September, 2010


30
Sep 10

Wordy

Did your fridge break? No problem if you have a Kelly … and if she is awesome, like ours.

Noodles

She sent a box o’ noodles, so that’s lunch for the next week and a half. My Kelly is wonderful.

Took a test today.

This evening I cleaned the car. Not a blade of grass or speck of dirt can be found inside. And then I did laundry. Even blowing off a steam after an exam has changed; I must be getting older.

Received a landscaping flier in the mail today, suggesting that someone drove by, made a judgment and found me lacking. I could expound on that, but the lawn is mowed and the hedges aren’t yet out of control.

That test? Three questions. The answers turned into 10 pages and 3,300 words. That’s plenty for one day.


30
Sep 10

Glomeratas

Three new Glomerata covers this week. We’re getting into some of the beautiful covers from the late 1920s, now. Remember, these are just the covers, just a quick link away.

Start here. Check out the latest here.


30
Sep 10

Catember, Day 30

Allie

“She likes this. She’s a weird cat.” — Me, most every day.

And thus concludes our 30 day study of Allie.


29
Sep 10

The longest Wednesday since the last long Wednesday

Judging by my notes that makes this title apply all the way back to, possibly, last week.

So if this is brief, or rambling, or long, I apologize.

Hit the gym this morning, but only slightly. I complained yesterday about my hip feeling weird. It is better today, but I’m now old and wise enough to realize I shouldn’t overdue it. So I didn’t pose as hard in front of the mirror in the weight room.

The best newspaper I saw today was from Germany. The big story, internationally, was from North Korea, and Die Welt used a still from Team America as their lead art. Genius.

Working on the Samford Wall of Fame this morning. We’re inducting two new members at homecoming in November. One of the displays needed a little minor repair and the two new displays had to be ordered. So that was part of the morning.

After lunch it was back to the joys of recruiting. I have a database of students. I’m writing a great letter. That isn’t hard, though, our department really sells itself.

We critiqued the paper this afternoon, too. The editor-in-chief and the managing editor sit down and we find all the problems with the paper. There were a few typos that should have been avoided and two or three design flaws, but the paper is good. The writing is improving, the leads are stronger, the story selection is on the upswing. Now we just need to get the story count up, get a bit more multimedia and … well there will always be something I can urge them toward.

They like it, though, and that’s great. That’s why their paper is improving so quickly. You can see the stories here. The new site should launch soon, too.

Called my grandmother on the way home. She is awesome. She told me about her new personal records she’s setting on her Wii and the grief she gives telemarketers. I think she writes jokes for those people and just waits for them to call.

Most recently someone called and asked her to take a political survey.

“Who’ll I vote for? Put ‘em all in a bag, I don’t know who’d fall out first.”

I’m not sure whether falling out first is desirable or a sign of a poor candidate. Either way, I like it.

Journalism links: What companies are featured most in tech stories? It isn’t Microsoft.

Kansas slashes journo education funding. Students are less than pleased.

Newsweek’s Eleanor Clift was on the Samford campus last week. She makes an assumption here and a generalization there, but she gave the university a nice little mention here.

The FTC is still looking to “save” journalism. Still a lot of bad ideas in there.

The saddest story you’ll read today, and one to add to the the-things-we-do-have-consequences lecture.

And, finally, I think they need a rewrite:

Rewrite


29
Sep 10

1939 World’s Fair

Big gas and big tobacco are this week’s feature items from the fair of the future.

The more things change, eh? Check out three more photographic installments from the fair here.

If you’d like to start at the beginning this link is for you.