I Haven't posted for a while because I was distracted by a profile glitch here. Got that sorted out. Hooray!
My honey is out of town for a couple weeks, so I'm planning to fill in the time he's away with Important Things, like going to the Y, catching up on laundry, cleaning my apartment, getting back into yoga with the roomie, taking care of some volunteer things I promised to do, and finishing up some writing I've been wanting to get to.
And reclaiming my Netflix.
I joke with him that his movie-watching habits are ruining my Netflix recommendations, but it's kind of true. Once upon a time, Netflix gave me automatic recommendations for "witty, independent dramas with a strong female lead." Perfect.
Now, I log in to find promos for "sci-fi fantasy from the '80s" and "Action and Adventure," with Hercules and Dragonslayer.
It's not actually a big deal, at all. It's just one of those ways our differences show. I notice it because it's novel, not because it actually causes me any pain. Do I have any reason to care what Netflix thinks of my taste in movies? No. How about those people who practice Deep Web searches to find out my preferences on these things? Nope.
A bagatelle, as Jostein Gaarder would say.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
Dear Diary
Dear Diary,
Today, I starte work at 7:30 and showed a couple coworkers how to send text messages on a cell phone, and prepared the phone so those texts could post to our newspaper's Twitter feed and Facebook page so we can do more real-time news coverage. Because of a glitch with the phone, I also found its user manual online and saved that to one of our shared drives at work, then informed everyone who should need to interact with that phone where they can find the manual if they later discover problems.
I met with an advertiser to prepare an outline for an advertising story and took the photos that will go along with that.
I helped a local organization connect with one of my sources, to whom they want to give an award.
I covered my regular city council meeting, including taking pictures before the meeting of an agenda item and during the meeting of speakers in the audience and updates during the meeting via the same technique I taught this morning, then emailed the story to our sister radio station. I wrote and posted a breaking story about a crash in a town 20 miles away.
It's now almost 11 p.m. and the cats have missed me.
This is the life of a community reporter.
Today, I starte work at 7:30 and showed a couple coworkers how to send text messages on a cell phone, and prepared the phone so those texts could post to our newspaper's Twitter feed and Facebook page so we can do more real-time news coverage. Because of a glitch with the phone, I also found its user manual online and saved that to one of our shared drives at work, then informed everyone who should need to interact with that phone where they can find the manual if they later discover problems.
I met with an advertiser to prepare an outline for an advertising story and took the photos that will go along with that.
I helped a local organization connect with one of my sources, to whom they want to give an award.
I covered my regular city council meeting, including taking pictures before the meeting of an agenda item and during the meeting of speakers in the audience and updates during the meeting via the same technique I taught this morning, then emailed the story to our sister radio station. I wrote and posted a breaking story about a crash in a town 20 miles away.
It's now almost 11 p.m. and the cats have missed me.
This is the life of a community reporter.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
A time for every season
Going to church today made me miss seasons. I've been trying to keep Lenten tradition on my own, but Palm Sunday catches me off-guard when it's not preceded by weeks of Lenten services. It seems so sudden and out of context.
Liturgical seasons build a continuity of services focused around the main themes of our faith. Yes, it gives us a predictable calendar, but it also provides the framework for a systematic study of the different facets, different lessons we have to learn from each. It really helps me to be in a better, more aware place to celebrate Christmas and Easter if there is the context of Advent and Lent preceding each.
Why do some churches ignore that?
Liturgical seasons build a continuity of services focused around the main themes of our faith. Yes, it gives us a predictable calendar, but it also provides the framework for a systematic study of the different facets, different lessons we have to learn from each. It really helps me to be in a better, more aware place to celebrate Christmas and Easter if there is the context of Advent and Lent preceding each.
Why do some churches ignore that?
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Tea Party: divisions
The Tea Party movement is really interesting to me, primarily in the divisions I see among its members.
What Tea Party-ers seem to have income: anger/frustration that their money doesn't go as far as they want it to, and blame to the government for that problem. The Constitutional issues may surface first because they sound more principled, but many make exceptions to their Constitution-first view in cases of programs that benefit them (most common: Social Security, Homeland Security, the Department of Education. Most don't question federal funding of highway construction, either, though I don't recall that power enumerated anywhere and it's a tool the federal government uses to get state compliance on other issues - legal drinking age, z.B.)
Here's a new good example I like:
He blames the government for his unemployment.
"Government is absolutely responsible, not because of what they did recently with the car companies but what they've done since the 1980s," he said. "The government has allowed free trade and never set up any rules."
Source: http://nyti.ms/9ZML2y
Especially interesting because of how many people with otherwise similar views, argue the government interferes too much in what should be a free trade world.
What Tea Party-ers seem to have income: anger/frustration that their money doesn't go as far as they want it to, and blame to the government for that problem. The Constitutional issues may surface first because they sound more principled, but many make exceptions to their Constitution-first view in cases of programs that benefit them (most common: Social Security, Homeland Security, the Department of Education. Most don't question federal funding of highway construction, either, though I don't recall that power enumerated anywhere and it's a tool the federal government uses to get state compliance on other issues - legal drinking age, z.B.)
Here's a new good example I like:
He blames the government for his unemployment.
"Government is absolutely responsible, not because of what they did recently with the car companies but what they've done since the 1980s," he said. "The government has allowed free trade and never set up any rules."
Source: http://nyti.ms/9ZML2y
Especially interesting because of how many people with otherwise similar views, argue the government interferes too much in what should be a free trade world.
Virtual reality
That Verizon commercial really does get under my skin.
Mark pointed it out - he doesn't like the mini-scene where kids are tuning out a story-telling dad at a campfire. Totally takes the essence away from a camping trip if you're not going to focus on the experience of being outdoors with people you like.
The part that gets me is the "You'll watch YouTube on a horse" line. Why on earth would anyone want to? That's gotta be more dangerous than texting while driving, and saddles aren't known for being a comfy kick-back sort of seat.
What's with the need to be constantly attached to media? What happened to having an experience and enjoying it? Must our lives be constant consumption of other people's digested memories?
Mark pointed it out - he doesn't like the mini-scene where kids are tuning out a story-telling dad at a campfire. Totally takes the essence away from a camping trip if you're not going to focus on the experience of being outdoors with people you like.
The part that gets me is the "You'll watch YouTube on a horse" line. Why on earth would anyone want to? That's gotta be more dangerous than texting while driving, and saddles aren't known for being a comfy kick-back sort of seat.
What's with the need to be constantly attached to media? What happened to having an experience and enjoying it? Must our lives be constant consumption of other people's digested memories?
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