i've started an album - "on the job" in which i will be posting various pictures of the events i cover. this should supplement the writings, which have been few as of late, with some visuals so you can see what i'm seeing. [non-facebook users: blogger takes its sweet time uploading photos on here, so i try to opt against it.]
otherwise:
-i was at the office from 10am-12pm last night working on laying out the ccn. at that time we still hadn't finished it. but that's what you get when there's only 2 people trying to fill space over 24-odd pages.
-i stayed in bed til 1 today as a result. needed some relaxing time to recover from last week's busyness.
-this week's paper did turn out really nicely, though. an "obama on the homefront" type front page, some good stand-alone art, and the dog-tournament/team bunker hill hunting story i wrote a couple weeks ago turned into a full-page lifestyles feature, which came out very nicely.
-we had two-rollover accidents this week. one ejected two students as it flipped, both of whom i believe are now alright, hopefully. the other involved a pick-up that slid down the side of a steep shoulder and, somehow, managed to wedge itself into the perfectly sized moat-type area on the golf course. i'll post pictures later. crazy how it just fell in the perfect position though.
-i got mentally ready for bowling tonight with some creedence and white russians. those who haven't seen big lebowski a) need to, and b) won't understand the significance of this. [i think i'll give the "james" ball a break tonight and opt for the "kevin" ball.]
in the words of john fogerty, "i never lost one minute of sleepin / worryin bout the way things might have been."
[don't know how that applies, but think about it and you'll figure out something.]
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
what NOT to do
glenn's class - if you're still in session, pay attention. (weezo, edge.)
last night i was supposed to cover a D.A.R.E. program graduation in giltner. note the bold words. first, "supposed" meaning, no, i did not actually cover this. "giltner" meaning the town the event was actually in. i went to glenvil. rookie mistake. between first hearing of the event and getting into my car to drive the 35 minutes there, i convinced myself the event was in glenvil, for whatever reason. awesome that i didn't realize my error until this morning.
luckily, this is a weekly, and i can afford to make a couple phone calls to cover myself. hopefully..
wow. double-check things. i'm an idiot.
****UPDATE****
the DARE graduation was actually moved to monday night. we were not notified of this change, so i would have missed it anyway. but it kind of bails me out?
[and this girl who works in the office doing legals/ad placements/obits, etc. has had the song "all that she wants" by ace of base on repeat for the last three days. don't get me wrong, it's a hell of a throw back, but all day? c'mon. can i at least get "in the eyes of the stranger" or "it's a beautiful life" just once?]
last night i was supposed to cover a D.A.R.E. program graduation in giltner. note the bold words. first, "supposed" meaning, no, i did not actually cover this. "giltner" meaning the town the event was actually in. i went to glenvil. rookie mistake. between first hearing of the event and getting into my car to drive the 35 minutes there, i convinced myself the event was in glenvil, for whatever reason. awesome that i didn't realize my error until this morning.
luckily, this is a weekly, and i can afford to make a couple phone calls to cover myself. hopefully..
wow. double-check things. i'm an idiot.
****UPDATE****
the DARE graduation was actually moved to monday night. we were not notified of this change, so i would have missed it anyway. but it kind of bails me out?
[and this girl who works in the office doing legals/ad placements/obits, etc. has had the song "all that she wants" by ace of base on repeat for the last three days. don't get me wrong, it's a hell of a throw back, but all day? c'mon. can i at least get "in the eyes of the stranger" or "it's a beautiful life" just once?]
slacking.
over a week since an update? some blog, kris..
briefly: haircut in 15 minutes; grand island to cover a 'klondike derby' for the area scouts and blue hill to cover something about bulls on main street; i'm officially on a bowling team now, no more subbing.
phone interview today: a recent graduate of one of the high school's we cover is in sacramento on a mission trip (i think mormon.) anyway, i went through his dad to get in touch with him, a process that started about a week ago. what happened is that adam (the mission kid) has to go through like several layers of public relations just to talk with me about what he's doing out there. they got it "approved" for him to talk to me yesterday, and one of the middle-men who has been communicating to me will be listening in. pressures on to make the interview worth all this stress? seems like an interesting experience for him, though. 2-year mission, all his own expenses, can actually baptize people if they want to join the church. can't drink caffeine, though. too much of a distraction from his purpose. i didn't feel it was necessary in my screening call to tell the PR guy that i'd be slugging down coffee while i talk to adam.
more later. promise.
hi glenn's class. welcome to virtual nebraska.
briefly: haircut in 15 minutes; grand island to cover a 'klondike derby' for the area scouts and blue hill to cover something about bulls on main street; i'm officially on a bowling team now, no more subbing.
phone interview today: a recent graduate of one of the high school's we cover is in sacramento on a mission trip (i think mormon.) anyway, i went through his dad to get in touch with him, a process that started about a week ago. what happened is that adam (the mission kid) has to go through like several layers of public relations just to talk with me about what he's doing out there. they got it "approved" for him to talk to me yesterday, and one of the middle-men who has been communicating to me will be listening in. pressures on to make the interview worth all this stress? seems like an interesting experience for him, though. 2-year mission, all his own expenses, can actually baptize people if they want to join the church. can't drink caffeine, though. too much of a distraction from his purpose. i didn't feel it was necessary in my screening call to tell the PR guy that i'd be slugging down coffee while i talk to adam.
more later. promise.
hi glenn's class. welcome to virtual nebraska.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
goodbye substitute teaching, hello substitute bowling
around 8:30, 9:00 last night i considered going to the bowling alley. wednesday is men's league, i thought i might try to go get on a sub list in case anyone couldn't make it. i decided that was too ambitious for me, and instead resigned to watching "it's always sunny in philadelphia" episodes.
roughly 20 minutes later, however, i got a call from an unknown, sutton number. go figure, it was kelly from clay bowl wondering if i wanted to fill in for a team. haha. time to show sutton what a childhood of candle-pin bowling in maine can do.
first thing that needed to be done was to find "kevin." he was just sitting on the rack, waiting for me. unstoppable, now. then i met my team, which was formed by a couple guys who own/operate the fox hollow motel/golf course/gym in town. and after a couple practice shots to get the rust off my footwork, me, kevin, my amber boch and the 'fox hollow studs' were ready to kick some geezer ass.
aside from the first frame strikes and the double-strike tenth frames, i underperformed. in the three games, i averaged a 137. i'm better than that. still, we played well enough to win by 4 pins overall, despite having one player who averaged about a 102.
they took my number in case they need me again. hopefully they do. it's fun to get my big lebowski on. might try switching to white russians next time, see if that'll work for me. or bring a dog that has papers. or a handgun in case someone steps over the line (smokey..) alright, enough references..
roughly 20 minutes later, however, i got a call from an unknown, sutton number. go figure, it was kelly from clay bowl wondering if i wanted to fill in for a team. haha. time to show sutton what a childhood of candle-pin bowling in maine can do.
first thing that needed to be done was to find "kevin." he was just sitting on the rack, waiting for me. unstoppable, now. then i met my team, which was formed by a couple guys who own/operate the fox hollow motel/golf course/gym in town. and after a couple practice shots to get the rust off my footwork, me, kevin, my amber boch and the 'fox hollow studs' were ready to kick some geezer ass.
aside from the first frame strikes and the double-strike tenth frames, i underperformed. in the three games, i averaged a 137. i'm better than that. still, we played well enough to win by 4 pins overall, despite having one player who averaged about a 102.
they took my number in case they need me again. hopefully they do. it's fun to get my big lebowski on. might try switching to white russians next time, see if that'll work for me. or bring a dog that has papers. or a handgun in case someone steps over the line (smokey..) alright, enough references..
Saturday, January 10, 2009
a hunting we will go
really cool story this morning.
there's a hunting resort just outside of hastings, but within the borders of clay county. news to me as of the middle of the week, but around this time of year they have a few big events on site. darren informed me of this, and when i called to inquire about what was happening, i found out that a hunting and fishing tv show, "the american outdoorsman" was shooting an episode this weekend. i asked if i could tag along for the hunt, and boom, i had my most exciting story ever lined up.
i really wasn't sure what to expect going there. all i knew is that i had to be up early. a few cups of coffee helped me out. all of the hunters were eating breakfast in the lodge when i got there. [the resort is situated on the grounds of an old navy ammunition manufacturing base. there are miles and miles of bunkers stretched across the resort, which give it a really unique feel. the lodge/bunks/storage garage were inside of one such set of bunkers.] i talked to this host of the show, jim mueller, for a bit and he gave me a rundown of what would happen. i was handed an orange vest, because, i somehow forgot all of my bright hunting clothes in maine. what was i thinking? the producer/main cameraman shot the show opening with jim outside of the main bunker, as the hunters talked excitedly in the background of the shot. the guide then explained the scenario, and we were on our way.
[this was the second year in a row that the show came to bunker hill to shoot. in our group, there were three cameramen, jim, our guide, six or seven hunters, three extremely well trained dogs and myself. two of the hunters had won the hunt in a boosters auction, and had invited the others along.]
we rode in the bed of a pick-up to the spot we'd be hunting and then got busy. i had never been bird hunting before so i was excited and curious. and nervous that someone might dick cheney me. for the beginning, i mostly observed, shooting pictures of the cameramen who were shooting video of the hunters who were shooting pheasants. yeah, it was a pretty cool process. and made for some awesome photos. exhibit a:
it was unbelievable how many birds we saw/shot at/killed. the combination of the dogs and large population of birds [they have a hatchery] made for a non-stop assault. "if it flies, it dies." estimates at the end of the day figured for at least 75 dead birds. unreal.
after a little while, everyone else decided it would be fun to let the mainer get in on the fun. so i swapped my camera for jim's 3-shot automatic .12 gauge shotgun. woah mamma. they were all excited for me to try to shoot my first pheasant and gave me the first "point" [meaning, when a dog has a bird, he just "honors" it, meaning he doesn't "flush" it, meaning he doesn't make it fly away, meaning he just holds it and waits for a shooter to get set.] so when lil toby had a bird ready for me, i aimed into the space and waited for it to jump. unfortunately, this being my first time shooting something that moves and my first time firing a shotgun, i missed twice. i shook it off. no big deal. we'll get another crack at one. i had a couple close calls, but was too slow to the draw. then i got another opportunity for a point, had the bird fly to my right and got it with a single shot. my first pheasant! it was pretty cool and everyone was excited to see a first. they even did a stand up with me on camera with jim congratulating me on my first pheasant. who knows if i'll make the final cut, but it was pretty neat. not bad for a journalist.
there's a hunting resort just outside of hastings, but within the borders of clay county. news to me as of the middle of the week, but around this time of year they have a few big events on site. darren informed me of this, and when i called to inquire about what was happening, i found out that a hunting and fishing tv show, "the american outdoorsman" was shooting an episode this weekend. i asked if i could tag along for the hunt, and boom, i had my most exciting story ever lined up.
i really wasn't sure what to expect going there. all i knew is that i had to be up early. a few cups of coffee helped me out. all of the hunters were eating breakfast in the lodge when i got there. [the resort is situated on the grounds of an old navy ammunition manufacturing base. there are miles and miles of bunkers stretched across the resort, which give it a really unique feel. the lodge/bunks/storage garage were inside of one such set of bunkers.] i talked to this host of the show, jim mueller, for a bit and he gave me a rundown of what would happen. i was handed an orange vest, because, i somehow forgot all of my bright hunting clothes in maine. what was i thinking? the producer/main cameraman shot the show opening with jim outside of the main bunker, as the hunters talked excitedly in the background of the shot. the guide then explained the scenario, and we were on our way.
[this was the second year in a row that the show came to bunker hill to shoot. in our group, there were three cameramen, jim, our guide, six or seven hunters, three extremely well trained dogs and myself. two of the hunters had won the hunt in a boosters auction, and had invited the others along.]
we rode in the bed of a pick-up to the spot we'd be hunting and then got busy. i had never been bird hunting before so i was excited and curious. and nervous that someone might dick cheney me. for the beginning, i mostly observed, shooting pictures of the cameramen who were shooting video of the hunters who were shooting pheasants. yeah, it was a pretty cool process. and made for some awesome photos. exhibit a:
it was unbelievable how many birds we saw/shot at/killed. the combination of the dogs and large population of birds [they have a hatchery] made for a non-stop assault. "if it flies, it dies." estimates at the end of the day figured for at least 75 dead birds. unreal.
after a little while, everyone else decided it would be fun to let the mainer get in on the fun. so i swapped my camera for jim's 3-shot automatic .12 gauge shotgun. woah mamma. they were all excited for me to try to shoot my first pheasant and gave me the first "point" [meaning, when a dog has a bird, he just "honors" it, meaning he doesn't "flush" it, meaning he doesn't make it fly away, meaning he just holds it and waits for a shooter to get set.] so when lil toby had a bird ready for me, i aimed into the space and waited for it to jump. unfortunately, this being my first time shooting something that moves and my first time firing a shotgun, i missed twice. i shook it off. no big deal. we'll get another crack at one. i had a couple close calls, but was too slow to the draw. then i got another opportunity for a point, had the bird fly to my right and got it with a single shot. my first pheasant! it was pretty cool and everyone was excited to see a first. they even did a stand up with me on camera with jim congratulating me on my first pheasant. who knows if i'll make the final cut, but it was pretty neat. not bad for a journalist.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
busy day, why i hate dish network, go gators.
lots to do today. dozens of phone calls to schools to get the names of students who received NSAA all-academic athlete awards for the fall sports season, more phone calls to other people for possible stories. it's tough, because with our monday and tuesday deadlines, thursday and friday become the phone call days because you can't save them until monday or tuesday because most of the time it takes two or three tries to get through to someone. plus, i had to skip to and from the office and my house because dish network was supposed to install my dish package today, but, for the second day this week did not. not happy, and we'll sort that out tomorrow.
went to doniphan tonight (45 minutes away) to shoot the school's boys and girls basketball games as well as snap a picture of the TeamMates mentoring program the school has, which was honored at halftime. also, i stopped at the assisted living home to interview the resident of the month, 86-year-old lillian. i seriously would have stayed and chatted with her for a while if i didn't have to go to the games. as i've said before.. conversation is conversation, and more times than not, these old ladies become my half-hour friends.
due to the busy night and due to my lack of tv channels (i'm really not happy with dish network), i missed the national championship game. i'm currently following the game on espn(.go).com. 24-14 florida.
also, i didn't realize that everyone had to make a profile or something to comment. that is changed. anyone can now comment. i enjoy hearing from you. please exercise your new right to comment.
went to doniphan tonight (45 minutes away) to shoot the school's boys and girls basketball games as well as snap a picture of the TeamMates mentoring program the school has, which was honored at halftime. also, i stopped at the assisted living home to interview the resident of the month, 86-year-old lillian. i seriously would have stayed and chatted with her for a while if i didn't have to go to the games. as i've said before.. conversation is conversation, and more times than not, these old ladies become my half-hour friends.
due to the busy night and due to my lack of tv channels (i'm really not happy with dish network), i missed the national championship game. i'm currently following the game on espn(.go).com. 24-14 florida.
also, i didn't realize that everyone had to make a profile or something to comment. that is changed. anyone can now comment. i enjoy hearing from you. please exercise your new right to comment.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
slow week, church take 2, internet/cable
i'd almost prefer to be busy. granted, now that my house is a little more livable and a little more enjoyable, it's nice to have some spare time, but having no news is even more stressful than having a full plate. this week was pretty much an entirely dead week. which meant that monday and tuesday (deadline days) i had to scramble to find news and take care of what i already had scheduled those days. so, i ended up writing 2 very long stories for the ccn paper this week. just need to fill space.
oh.. sunday i tried church again. not the same one though.. i said if they didn't want me when i wanted them, then too bad. i went to the federated church instead (a combination of the united methodist and united church of christ, i think.) i chose this one because after i failed to get in the methodist church in my first attempt, my uncle read about my misadventure and called the pastor for this federated church. when i talked with him later he told me that he chatted with him for a while and that he seemed like a nice guy. thanks troy. it was actually kind of cool, because he came right up to me when i arrived and asked if i was the new reporter / the one whose uncle called.
there were still a lot of old people in attendance, but company is company. and mainly my attention was on following the procedure, which everyone else seemed to be on the ball with. every five seconds i was looking around to see what i should be doing. i was scrambling to find the correct hymns, while everyone else pretty much had them memorized. pastor biehl's message was interesting, too, talking about how people should be less concerned with being "religious" and focusing on different denominations (sutton has 7 different churches) and worry about being "faithful," instead. (did he know i was coming?)
i have internet at my house now! so i should be able to keep up more regularly with posts. i got really lucky, though. the only estimate the company could give me as to when the installer guy would be here was "before 5." and monday was a busy day, so i couldn't hang around. i took a long lunch and kind of dragged my feet. then i wrote a note saying something like "call me, i'm only 2 minutes away" and attached it to my door. oddly, i thought about how that hoppin' johns that i ate on new years day was supposed to bring good luck and i wished it would cash it right then. no sooner had i thought it and started stepping out the door to head back to the office, the green windstream van pulled up. yes! i'm totally attributing it to the hoppin' johns.
unfortunately.. my luck was short lived, as i missed the dish network guy on tuesday. again, the 12-5 estimate given proved too broad for me. i'll try to sort that out today.
darren and cassie's little girls have been hanging around the office more because their daycare closed. josie is 5 1/2 and brooklyn (brook) is 3 1/2. which, incidentally, are the same ages as my little cousins casey and cody. so, if i can't see them, it's kind of neat to be reminded of them when the girls are around. brook and i played variations of catch and rolling the ball back and forth last night. after 11:00. and she hadn't napped. i was impressed. i snuck a 45 minute nap earlier..
i might take a ride to civilization today to pick up a few more things for the house. maybe an end/coffee table, a cheap vaccuum?, couch pillows/blanket, a tv tray? i've gotta really plan for these trips. it's not often i get to go into town.. haha.
nb: don't make the mistake of using ground coffee as "instant" coffee. you'll end up drinking coffee flavored hot water and spitting out a mouthful of coffee grinds.
oh.. sunday i tried church again. not the same one though.. i said if they didn't want me when i wanted them, then too bad. i went to the federated church instead (a combination of the united methodist and united church of christ, i think.) i chose this one because after i failed to get in the methodist church in my first attempt, my uncle read about my misadventure and called the pastor for this federated church. when i talked with him later he told me that he chatted with him for a while and that he seemed like a nice guy. thanks troy. it was actually kind of cool, because he came right up to me when i arrived and asked if i was the new reporter / the one whose uncle called.
there were still a lot of old people in attendance, but company is company. and mainly my attention was on following the procedure, which everyone else seemed to be on the ball with. every five seconds i was looking around to see what i should be doing. i was scrambling to find the correct hymns, while everyone else pretty much had them memorized. pastor biehl's message was interesting, too, talking about how people should be less concerned with being "religious" and focusing on different denominations (sutton has 7 different churches) and worry about being "faithful," instead. (did he know i was coming?)
i have internet at my house now! so i should be able to keep up more regularly with posts. i got really lucky, though. the only estimate the company could give me as to when the installer guy would be here was "before 5." and monday was a busy day, so i couldn't hang around. i took a long lunch and kind of dragged my feet. then i wrote a note saying something like "call me, i'm only 2 minutes away" and attached it to my door. oddly, i thought about how that hoppin' johns that i ate on new years day was supposed to bring good luck and i wished it would cash it right then. no sooner had i thought it and started stepping out the door to head back to the office, the green windstream van pulled up. yes! i'm totally attributing it to the hoppin' johns.
unfortunately.. my luck was short lived, as i missed the dish network guy on tuesday. again, the 12-5 estimate given proved too broad for me. i'll try to sort that out today.
darren and cassie's little girls have been hanging around the office more because their daycare closed. josie is 5 1/2 and brooklyn (brook) is 3 1/2. which, incidentally, are the same ages as my little cousins casey and cody. so, if i can't see them, it's kind of neat to be reminded of them when the girls are around. brook and i played variations of catch and rolling the ball back and forth last night. after 11:00. and she hadn't napped. i was impressed. i snuck a 45 minute nap earlier..
i might take a ride to civilization today to pick up a few more things for the house. maybe an end/coffee table, a cheap vaccuum?, couch pillows/blanket, a tv tray? i've gotta really plan for these trips. it's not often i get to go into town.. haha.
nb: don't make the mistake of using ground coffee as "instant" coffee. you'll end up drinking coffee flavored hot water and spitting out a mouthful of coffee grinds.
Friday, January 2, 2009
downtown owl
i haven't read a book, outside the harry potter series, in full in i'm not sure how long. yeah, i skimmed/guessed in college. but i finished chuck klosterman's "downtown owl" yesterday. it was the perfect book for my current situation. on the surface it's about a small town in rural north dakota, focusing on three of the town's residents (one happens to be a 23 year old girl, who moves to owl for her first job. you see the connections.) i don't feel like writing a book review, but suffice it to say that i felt incredible after finishing it. (joke away, goulet.) the combination of klosterman's style (he says a lot of things i try to say in a way that i'd like to say them), julia's experiences and eventual realization about her life in owl, and his commentary on average people was exactly what i needed to hear.
i immediately had to say a few things to a few people after finishing it. i called deloose and gleese, since they were both reading it, too, and was glad to hear deloose echo similar sentiments about the book.
it was just exactly what i needed to hear, and i found it extremely reassuring.
i immediately had to say a few things to a few people after finishing it. i called deloose and gleese, since they were both reading it, too, and was glad to hear deloose echo similar sentiments about the book.
it was just exactly what i needed to hear, and i found it extremely reassuring.
2009 will be a very new year
i decided not to go to hastings to ring in the new year. instead, i opted for the 2 minute drive to a bar in town. which worked out really well, as the people i sat and talked with the first time i went to the bar to watch the husker volleyball game, were already there at a table, so i pulled up a chair.
it was weird not being on the east coast for new years eve. i always have been. especially when i'm getting happy new year wishes when it's only 11:00 my time. i don't think anyone really paid attention to the ball dropping in times square, nor was there a countdown on our end. thanks, east coast, for stealing our new year.
at one point, chris and i played table-top shuffle board, which i now realize i'm awful at. in my defense, the table was fast. i should've taken a few practice rolls, but, cocky as i am when i drink and play games, i passed on the practice and subsequently got worked by the mom i shot against. "you talk a lot of shit," she commented at one point. and really, i do. but i sucked, so my best option was to get in their heads. it didn't work. we lost to moms. i rejoined the table and got another bud.
the next morning i had to cover a story in blue hill, an hour drive southwest. the event started at 9. i got there at 11. wow, it was not a pretty morning. the event, of course, was at the town's tavern. i plopped down at the bar to get myself organized and scan the scene. the woman next to me was 3/4 done an enormous birthday mug of beer. i stuck to my coffee. i'm really out of shape, elon. you'd be disappointed. the event: it has been a tradition for over 60 some-odd years now to serve what is called "hoppin' johns." i was told this "hoppin' johns" was originally served to slaves on new years day. the bean soup/porridge type concoction was intentionally supposed to taste terrible. the slaves, therefore, thought "well it can't be this bad next time." hence, eating "hoppin' johns" on the new year is supposed to bring good luck. i had a few bowls for safe measure.
it was weird not being on the east coast for new years eve. i always have been. especially when i'm getting happy new year wishes when it's only 11:00 my time. i don't think anyone really paid attention to the ball dropping in times square, nor was there a countdown on our end. thanks, east coast, for stealing our new year.
at one point, chris and i played table-top shuffle board, which i now realize i'm awful at. in my defense, the table was fast. i should've taken a few practice rolls, but, cocky as i am when i drink and play games, i passed on the practice and subsequently got worked by the mom i shot against. "you talk a lot of shit," she commented at one point. and really, i do. but i sucked, so my best option was to get in their heads. it didn't work. we lost to moms. i rejoined the table and got another bud.
the next morning i had to cover a story in blue hill, an hour drive southwest. the event started at 9. i got there at 11. wow, it was not a pretty morning. the event, of course, was at the town's tavern. i plopped down at the bar to get myself organized and scan the scene. the woman next to me was 3/4 done an enormous birthday mug of beer. i stuck to my coffee. i'm really out of shape, elon. you'd be disappointed. the event: it has been a tradition for over 60 some-odd years now to serve what is called "hoppin' johns." i was told this "hoppin' johns" was originally served to slaves on new years day. the bean soup/porridge type concoction was intentionally supposed to taste terrible. the slaves, therefore, thought "well it can't be this bad next time." hence, eating "hoppin' johns" on the new year is supposed to bring good luck. i had a few bowls for safe measure.
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