“A Simple Kind of Life”

Posted: January 15, 2012 in Personal
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I’ve been busy, but I would me negligent if I didn’t point out that last week was my two year anniversary of when I first moved to Charleston, WV.

I moved in the middle of a snow storm, and even then I spent maybe a day in my new apartment and had to fly out for a week-long conference in Washington D.C.

Not that I could truly enjoy the apartment at the time; I had no furniture. We tracked down a twin-size bed in decent condition and a small dining table with two chairs. Otherwise I had a beanbag chair.

My furniture has grown over the years, and now I have a matching couch and love seat, as well as my Archie Bunker recliner. Queen-size bed and dresser in the bedroom, and a new desk coming next month for my production studio.

I call Charleston home obviously, otherwise I wouldn’t keep filling my apartment with stuff. In some ways I still consider myself a sojourner here. I was never supposed to stay permanently. The plan was to stay for 90 days then head back to my home in Friendly, WV, where I lived with my roommate Brandon.

I’m glad I chose to stay. I wouldn’t have the experiences I have, the friends I have, and the Girl I date. I think I’ll stick around for a while longer. 

I’m in my busy season right now, with the West Virginia Legislature starting last week. My new Reuters credentials arrived just in time last week as well.

I’ve been working on my resolutions. I’m trying to drink more water and eat in smaller portions. I’m taking snacks to the Capitol, like trail mix and nuts. Usually when I’m covering the legislative session I don’t eat until the end of the day, which isn’t healthy. I’m definitely making sure I start the day with breakfast.

My main resolutions – like being less defensive, less critical, and nicer – seem to be working. I’m also feeling less stressed as a result. I tend to be more bombastic in Twitter, I’m far nicer in person. I just need to tap back into that. Treat people on Twitter as you would if they were right in front of you.

 

 That’s all I’ve got. Have a good day.

2011 in review

Posted: January 1, 2012 in Personal
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The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 6,300 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 5 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

“We will do better than this”

Posted: December 29, 2011 in Personal
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I never know whether or not to do new years resolutions. There for a while I stopped calling them resolutions. Instead I called them “things I’d like to do.” I don’t like to be cliche and I don’t like to follow the crowd.

But as you get older you get lazier. So I think I will list a few resolutions for the new year of 2012.

1. Become a better writer and editor. This is a constant goal, and Lord knows I’m getting there. I’m talking about self-editing. There are writers far worse than I in this department. Where I fail is taking the time to read over what I just wrote. It would only take an extra 30 seconds to read an article I wrote out loud. That’s how I find most mistakes, but I usually give the article a quick glance-over and move on.

I also need to get better at following proper AP style in my writings. That doesn’t mean I need to strictly follow AP style – who does? But I think it would do my future career good to stick to the reporter’s bible.

2. On that same note, I need to do more reading, period. I’m doing too much glancing over interesting articles, but I’m not reading them. My goal will be to finish every article I start to read. No skipping around. And I will read the article before tweeting it. I go by the headline or the lede and sometimes get no further. I’m not to the point of knowing everything; I need to read completely and soak up as much knowledge as possible.

3. I need to learn to be less defensive. I’ve noticed over the last year that I’m too quick to go on the warpath, especially when someone seems like they’re being critical. This comes out on Twitter especially. I didn’t used to be this defensive.

A lot of it has come because of my business model: I’m a journalist paid by a think tank, and a libertarian one at that. As a result I don’t have many reporter friends in this town, and a few are downright hostile towards me. And because of that people try to pin me to some belief structure. I’m not conservative or liberal, I pick and choose from both.

My point is I’ve developed a kind of persecution complex I think. First of all, in the grand scheme of things I am not important. I don’t need to get defensive if people disagree with me. Even if I might be right that occasion, who cares? Not everyone dislikes me. The girl and the friends I call the Crew don’t.

4. That leads me to this point: I need to be less critical myself. I am entirely too critical. I think I come across as a curmudgeon on my personal Twitter. I’ll take the critical, controversial stands. No wonder I piss people off on Twitter. The sad thing is I’m not quite this bad in real life as people that know me can attest.

I think a different side comes out sometimes when I talk to people on Twitter. I lose my filter, and I’m probably more mean. Maybe part of that is due to the communication mode: Twitter can seem impersonal sometimes; less like talking to real people. Either way, it reflects poorly on me and I need to mind my tongue.

5. Lose weight, but everyone says that.

6. But with that said, I need to get my apartment finally the way I want it, and that includes the kitchen. The new toaster and microwave Dad got me for Christmas was a big step in that direction. I need to get new burners for the oven, plus finally buy new plates, silverware, and glasses. I think I’d eat more at home and do more cooking if I made these changes.

For the living room I’m finally putting the twin-size bed up for sale so I can make room, plus junking the extra bike I have. For the office I’m taking a great corner desk off of Dad’s hands and taking the table that my desktop computer is sitting on and moving it to where the twin bed is. I need to get a book case for the books that currently sit in the window. The girl bought me fantastic new sheets for the bed, but I need to buy frames for a couple of posters and records I have in there, plus fix my dresser.

I think that’s it for resolutions. I’ve been really happy with 2011. I started freelancing for Reuters last January, writing as many as two articles a month. West Virginia Watchdog has continued to get more readers and more respect. Best of all, I finally got the Girl in June after nearly screwing things up in February.

I’m guessing 2012 will be full of changes, but I think I’m ready.

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“Do they know it’s Christmas?”

Posted: December 18, 2011 in Personal
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I’m not sleepy.

Yet.

It’s been a while since I’ve been in a late night mood. This is different than unintentionally being up late, as I was last Friday. Then I probably didn’t get to bed until 3:30 a.m.

I won’t even be up that late, but it’s late for me on a Thursday night/Friday early morning.

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I’ve been listening to my Spotify (which reminds me, I still need to download Spotify to my new main laptop), having odd discussions with colleagues at another newspaper, reading about the death of Christopher Hitchens, and playing with my Facebook timeline.

One of these days I’d like to get all the state’s reporters together for a night of drinking and fellowship, but I doubt it would come together. Cartney used to organize politico tweet-ups that brought together reporters, political operatives, and whoever. Those who disagree would come and share a drink and a laugh at those things.

Doubt that would happen now. Reporters in this town are an odd lot anyway and very cliquish. Reporters for the Charleston daily papers, despite technically being two separate companies, tend to stick together and seem aloof around non-Gazette or non-Daily Mail reporters. Radio keeps to itself, as does TV. I tend to align myself with the weekly paper in town, as my background is weekly papers.

I’ve tried to be friendly to most of the daily paper reporters the nearly two years I’ve lived here, but it has largely gotten me nowhere. I think it’s just a West Virginia thing, because I’m friends with a lot of reporters across this fruited plain we call America.

I know one thing: there is a notable difference between WVU journalism grads and Marshall University journalism grads. They are worlds apart, with MU grads being far more friendly with far less feelings of superiority.

Disclaimer: the top part I wrote Thursday night. The part below this sentence I wrote Sunday.

This is not a specific example, but a general example. I’ve been a working reporter since 2006, but if I bumped into a WVU journalism grad that just graduated last semester and literally just started at one of the local papers, guaranteed that person would start talking down to me. OK, that was more of a scenario, but there are WVU J-school students who have came to this city to intern who have treated me like a college freshman.

On the other hand, Marshall University journalism students and grads are just simply a million times nicer.

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I’m also slightly biased, as the girl (pictured above) is a MU J-school grad, experienced in the ways of public relations. Because of her current job we scored an invite to one of the Governor’s Christmas parties. One fellow reporter said they’ve never received an invite to these parties. In fact, I have no idea if reporters are usually invited to those things. It was just me and one of the senior Gazette reporters.

This weekend was a very Christmas-tastic weekend. With the girl and I dressing up and dancing the the Governor’s Christmas party, then singing with the crew at the Red Carpet, both on Friday night. Saturday the girl and I traveled to St. Marys to meet my Dad (pictured with me below) and that side of the family. It couldn’t have gone better, so I’d say she is a keeper.

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I won’t be doing any news reporting this week, unless there is some breaking news item. I’m taking a break from writing this week so I can catch up on some investigative pieces I’m working on and research. As a journalism Christmas present the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette used my video reports from last week’s Marcellus Shale special session for their In The Pipeline report.

The girl and I are having our Christmas Friday, which is also our six-month anniversary. Then I’m heading to St. Marys for the weekend to celebrate Christmas with Dad. I stayed here for Christmas last year, so it looks like I’ll be alternating my Christmas years between St. Marys and Charleston.

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“What if I was the same man, same man”

Posted: December 11, 2011 in Personal, Pop Culture
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So it is (almost) Christmas.

Last year was the first year in a decade that I turned of the Scrooge. I can’t remember why, but this year is no exception. I’ve opined as to why I was a Scrooge, but since I’m no longer a Scrooge, I’d say the best thing to do is leave all that in the past.

But I still have a ways to go. I have a small, plastic, undecorated tree on the entertainment center. It actually has presents underneath it, though one is still unwrapped. I had one more to buy for and I probably spent the most on her. I hope she likes the gifts.

It seems like Christmas didn’t start early this year. I know it did; it always creeps into Halloween. Yet, to me it seems like it started when it should; at Thanksgiving. It just seems like Christmas, for once, is less obnoxious this year.

I’m bring the girl home next Saturday for the bi-yearly family reunion/carol sing/gift exchange. This will be momentous indeed, as I have never brought a girlfriend to this. In fact, I’ve never introduced Dad to a current girlfriend.

To be clear, I’ve introduced Dad to girls who I thought I might date. Yeah, that sounds a bit weird, but whatever. As I’ve said, my family is like a real-life version of the Waltons, so I imagine things will go well.

I love my friends and the past two weekends have been spent with them. Last week we guys traveled to the mountains of Kentucky for a two night cold-weather camping that involved target-shooting and extreme hiking.

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Now, I’m a camper and an avid canoe pilot, but I’ve not done the cold-weather camping thing. Though, to be clear, it was in the low 60s during the day. That doesn’t negate the fact that it was, indeed, cold at night. It got down to the mid-20s. The five of us survived, conquered 10 miles of mountain (five miles up, five miles down), braved the elements, killed clay targets, and ate steak and bacon every day.

OK, I guess it wasn’t quite true survival living, but it sure was fun. Then last night was chilli night, with beef chilli and deer chilli. We also did cookies. A house with all 10 of us (the girl had plans, but she was substituted by a baby).

My friends remind me of the How I Met Your Mother cast. Netflix just put six seasons of the show on the website and I’m currently finishing up season 1 episode 14. Neil Patrick Harris, Jason Segal, Alyson Hannigan are, by far, my favorite actors on the show.

Speaking of Jason, the girl and I saw The Muppets a few weeks ago and walked away loving it. It sent me on a mission of rediscovery. I tend to leave the kid stuff in the past except for a few exceptions (that was redundant, I know).

Exceptions include the original 1980s Transformers.

But I started watching Muppets clips on YouTube. I had really forgotten how great the Muppets were and how they span all age groups. You don’t feel like a little kids or less mature watching the Muppets.

I will say this: if you look up the Muppets on YouTube, DO NOT watch the clips from the Jim Henson memorial service. We still have Kermit, but at the time it seemed apparent they were burying Henson AND Kermit. It was incredibly sad watching Big Bird sing “It’s Not Easy Being Green.”

On that note, in the words of Barny Stinson I must “suit up!” The Legislature meets in special session this afternoon to decide on permanent Marcellus Shale regulations. Catch you later.

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A warm fall Saturday in St. Marys, West Virginia

Posted: November 26, 2011 in Personal, Photo Essay
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I decided to take the Canon Rebel out and take some pictures of random things around town. Instead of editorializing, I will simply let the pictures speak for themselves.

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Back to where I once belonged

Posted: November 25, 2011 in Personal
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I’ve been in St. Marys, W.Va., since Wednesday evening for the Thanksgiving holiday.

I’ve also been neglectful of this blog, so here is my obligatory “I’m sorry.”

It’s been a busy 30-day period, starting with East End Main Street’s third annual HallowEast. It was a success, especially the Zombie Walk.

That was followed by the pomp and circumstance of swearing in a new governor and senate president. Then that was followed by redistricting lawsuits and yadda, yadda, yadda.

I’m glad to be in St. Marys. Charleston is home, but I still often feel like a sojourner there. St. Marys is the hometown and where I hope to retire one of these days.

In all truth I’m surprised I haven’t gotten grief for the police department here for going on national television last month to talk about a police prank that got put on YouTube, causing local and national outrage. The police here tend to do as they wish.

Should I talk about what I’m thankful for? It’s very cliche for people to state these things publically. I am thank for home, for family, for friends, for a great job. I’m thankful for the girl, and we just marked five months on Wednesday.

But all of these groups and people know I’m thankful for them. The girl definitely knows everyday. And you could say I’m hypocritical for calling thise cliche, then going through with it anyway.

I’ve certainly been called worse lol.

Tonight is pizza night with Dad. The goal tomorrow is to take the Canon out and take some pictures around town. We’ll eat some Thanksgiving leftovers tomorrow as well.

This was our first Thanksgiving in a while. I’ve been helping with the local Salvation Army Thanksgiving meal for nine years, but in recent years it’s gotten a bit dysfunctional, plus almost no one comes to the sit-down meal anymore.

I think my keyboard is going dead. I’m typing this via the iPad and bluetooth keyboard. I’ll pick this up again later.

The Rum Diary

Posted: November 5, 2011 in Personal
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Hunter S. ThompsonAnother week goes by and all is well. Another Saturday goes by at Moxxie Coffee and I’m surrounded by friends that I usually only see in passing.

Girlfriend is out of town visiting the mother. Spent time with her before she headed out Friday. Spent time with the gang Friday night at the Red Carpet. They introduced a new karaoke guy.

I love the RC and I love karaoke, and I do like the couple who used to manage karaoke. But their equipment was old, their CDs barely functioned, and they had no sound-mixing abilities.

The new guy was dragged out of retirement by the owner of the RC. He had better equipment, a better arsenal of songs, and a better sound mix. It took a while for the room to warm to the new guy, but by the end of the night karaoke was flowing like sweet sweet honey.

Not a busy week. Fought off a Flu bug Tuesday. Watched a former mayor tell the state Ethics Commission to shove it, but not in those exact words. Tracked down a terrorist attack for Reuters only to find the exploding package was nothing more than a popping light bulb.

Journalism is rarely a simple thing. It always ebbs and flows in unexpected ways.

Kind of reminds me of The Rum Diary, starring Johnny Depp as a journalist molded after Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, though the main character technically isn’t Thompson. I would argue Thompson based the main character of his novel on himself and that is how Depp plays it.

The Rum Diary had a 50 percent rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes the last I checked, though I’m convinced that the bad reviews are because people expected the movie to be like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas; a drug-filled expedition into Thompson’s mind. But The Rum Diary was loosely based on Thompson’s real-life experiences as a beat reporter for a newspaper in Puerto Rico. He wasn’t a druggy then, though he was certainly a hard drinker.

Thompson is certainly fun to read in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, but you really get to the real Thompson in The Rum Diary. I would argue the events of his life in Puerto Rico helped mold him into the man we know from Hell’s Angels and on up. He was a man in search of the American dream and Puerto Rico was where he first realized that the dream was a charade.

Watching The Rum Diary made me wish I still worked in the news room. I’m convinced only the eccentric become journalists, and eccentrics work best when in the company of other eccentrics. Not because there is serenity, but chaos. I work alone now from either my apartment office or the cubicle at the Capitol, but I am alone.

My job before at The Tyler Star News saw me working with my former babysitter and a Springsteen-obsessed sports writer, as well as a receptionist who spent too much time on Myspace.

Before, at the Register, I had an editor who only wore jeans and a white tee-shirt and lived out of his 1970s Dodge Charger. Another writer was a skinny Pentecostal girl who somehow managed to ignore the porn we would look at from time to time. My publisher talked constantly about the band Rush and went comic book shopping everyday. He always encouraged us to keep alcohol at our desks.

I could go on, but then I will go into detail and before long I’ll have my own novel. I’d include the adventures in radio, but technically we only had two staff members: the news director and I, though the interactions with the rest of the DJs were equally interesting.

My point is I miss that kind of environment, where I can bounce ideas off off people, the comradery that develops and the fun and frustrations those produce. Depp’s character pals around with a chubby photographer whose hobby is cock fighting. Rounding out the trinity is Moberg, a dirty drunk staff writer who listens to Adolph Hitler speeches for fun. The three stay together until the very end, when Depp sails off into the sunset to go after the bastards of the world.

Ignore Rotten Tomatoes and go see it.

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Coffee and pastries

Posted: October 22, 2011 in Personal
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Moxxie

I’m sitting here at my new favorite place, Moxxie Coffee. It took them two years to finally open around the corner from where I live, but here they are.

When I first moved to Charleston this location had a sign that said “Moxxie coming soon.” that was January 2010. I guess they wanted to get everything as perfect as possible, but since they serve deliciousness I will stop complaining and just be happy they’re open.

As things get colder it makes a perfect spot to grab a hot drink, a pastry, and open up the iPad and blog, which is exactly what I’m doing.

The end to another week. The girl and I went to Weston, WV, to experience Bedlum, the haunted house ran by the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum. You faithful fans of Ghost Hunters know the place of which I speak.

Bedlum is four floors of awesome terror. Jessica loves October and Halloween, but that doesn’t mean she likes to be scared. She was gripping my left arm and hand tights, with occasional screams and whimpers. I had a grin from ear to ear the entire time. That’s not to say I wasn’t startled myself, but it was such a well-done performance that I couldn’t take the grin off the face.

Thought I had lost my apartment keys last night. Had to call a maintenance man to let us back in the building and my apt. Found a note taped to the front door. My neighbor across the hall recognized my keys, which I had left in my mailbox, and took them to her apt for safe keeping. Thank goodness for good neighbors.

Was supposed to help a friend move into his new apartment, but never heard back from him. He was a reporter in the southern part of the state, but moved to Charleston to take a new reporter gig. A very cool guy. I hope he doesn’t think I bailed on him. My only communication modes with him are Facebook and Twitter. Just goes to show you that the phone isn’t dead yet.

I’ve been somewhat indifferent to the Occupy movement, though I have little sympathy for the local group; approximately 15 people closer to age 19 and 20.

I am most definitely in the 99 percent. I only make $21,000 a year and I have debt up the wazoo. I have loans from college, which I never completed. I was very irresponsible with bills when I was younger and I am suffering for it now. But those were my mistakes and I will own those. I wasn’t conned into taking credit cards.

The generations taking their places as adults really have no idea what personal responsibility is. They also don’t understand life takes hard work. I’m a college dropout; to get to where I currently am in my career took patience and it took hard work. To see other people wanting the same kind is success handed to them with no effort on their part annoys me greatly.

End of rant. I wanted this post to be a bunch of randomness and I have succeeded.

Posted: October 16, 2011 in Personal
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I really have nothing deep to add, so here are some pictures.

Actually I guess I could write a little bit. It’s been a good week mostly spent on waiting on packages. I just ordered a ton of audio/video/computer equipment. The website I write for and edit is about to start a news syndication service for small radio stations and weekly papers. The new equipment I purchased will help me create better quality video and audio.

One of the things I ordered was the Canon Rebel XS 10.1MP Digital SLR Camera with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens. The girl was testing it out in the pics above. This is my first SLR camera and my first with a lense. I bought a book to help me learn the basics, but so far I’m figuring it out.

The girl and I took a roadtrip to her home in Wyoming County, West Virginia, so I took the Canon with me to give it a field test. We went to Twin Falls State Park.

I bought a lot of equipment. The first goal was to set up a audio editing system and podcast studio. I’m using the Alesis MultiMix 8 USB FX, an 8-channel mixer with an internal effects processor and a USB output. I’m using two Audio-Technica AT2020 studio mics with two OMNITRONICS EPF-15A Cad Mic Pop Filters.

For a new laptop that could handle the workload of both audio and video production I went with the Dell Vostro 3750 laptop. The laptop I bought last winter, the Dell Studio XPS laptop, will go to my cubicle at the State Capitol Complex, as will my HP 3-in-1 printer, which I replace at my home office with the Dell V515wn Wireless All In One Printer. The little guy on the left is my 32 GB iPad 2 with wireless keyboard. The state Senate uses an iPad 2 system, and the Capitol has great iPad apps for bill tracking. My iPad will be my traveling computer.

This little guy is the JK Audio Inline Patch Telephone Audio Recorder Interface. It will allow me to record telephone interviews for note taking and podcasts.

For getting radio/broadcast audio out in the field, I’m using the Marantz PMD660 Hand-Held CompactFlash Recorder with the Shure VP64AL Omnidirectional Handheld Microphone.

I’m pretty active with video production, but I’ve been using the Kodak Zi8 for recording videos. The Kodak is great for what it is, but it was time for me to move up to something better. I went with the Canon VIXIA HF M32 Full HD Camcorder w/64GB Flash Memory. The video quality is much improved. I’m also using new software: Corel VideoStudio Pro X4.

Of course, with all of this equipment, I’ve got to lug it around somehow. I’m using the Canon Video Bag SC-A1000, which can hold both the Canon Rebel, the Canon Vixia, the Marantz recorder, plus chargers, microphones, cords, and connectors.

I’m really looking forward to putting out better quality videos, audio, and pictures for West Virginia Watchdog.

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