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No helicopters were shot down during this presentation

No kidding:

Big crowd here. No pressure @kennysmith #apa2015 pic.twitter.com/BmbV8IffB9

— EditorBobDavis (@EditorBobDavis) February 13, 2015

After about three hours of sleep last night — working and reworking slides takes time — I made it over to the Alabama Press Association’s convention in plenty of time to get set up for my opening morning session. We got through the technical difficulties, the APA folks were great, and then a few people strolled in. I knew one or two. I met two or three others. I figured that it would be a light crowd. Early morning, a topic like “Vetting User Generated Content” and other options meant I might not be the biggest draw.

My friend Bob Davis, who is the editor of the Anniston Star, came up to talk for a few moments. When he sat down a nice APA member was ready to introduce me and the room was full. Just look at Bob’s photo above.

So I spoke and talked and then spoke and talked. I told a few jokes. I live-tweeted my own speech — actually I scheduled some topical tweets last night and guessed on the times and it all worked out to the amazement of a few people. I only made one Brian Williams joke (and one David Carr reference). It all seemed well-received. I got some nice questions. I was hoping for a bit more back-and-forth, I thought it might be nice to hear from others about what their outlets are doing with UGC, but that didn’t happen. But there were nods and compliments.

My slides:

I stayed after my session to hear some of our students who were leading a panel session on their journalism. Here’s managing editor Halley Smith, editor-in-chief Sydney Cromwell and news editor Emily Featherston (l-r):

I took notes:

.@feathers_878 talks about her intellectual property story, doing interviews between classes, battling legal talk. http://t.co/pJGVmy1san

— kenny smith (@kennysmith) February 13, 2015

.@halleyesmith "This story was a stepping stone for us," as @samfordcrimson shifted from events coverage to news.

— kenny smith (@kennysmith) February 13, 2015

Now @syd_cromwell shifts the conversation to their first fall story on sexual assault and Clery Act data. http://t.co/CwBtFX0D7L

— kenny smith (@kennysmith) February 13, 2015

.@syd_cromwell "It was a three week … slightly disheartening but important ordeal to get through," learning legalese and chasing details.

— kenny smith (@kennysmith) February 13, 2015

.@feathers_878: "One of the main things in this is comparing language" ultimately getting at the terms and definitions of sexual assault.

— kenny smith (@kennysmith) February 13, 2015

"Non-consensual sexual contact." There's a phrase the @SamfordCrimson staff wrestled with a lot in the fall.

— kenny smith (@kennysmith) February 13, 2015

.@syd_cromwell "It boiled down to 'What's the difference?' It came down to is Samford right in not reporting this issue?"

— kenny smith (@kennysmith) February 13, 2015

.@syd_cromwell "It is a difficult role to play" to be hard hitting "in the office if someone that can suspend you or punish you."

— kenny smith (@kennysmith) February 13, 2015

.@syd_cromwell "I woke up the next morning," she laughs, "'All right. This is the morning I'm expelled. Let's do this!'" (She was not.)

— kenny smith (@kennysmith) February 13, 2015

Now the second article, which reported Samford wasn't changing their Clery data: http://t.co/CwBtFX0D7L

— kenny smith (@kennysmith) February 13, 2015

.@halleyesmith "I think we were just mad … It became, in our opinion, very hard hitting. This is what happened."

— kenny smith (@kennysmith) February 13, 2015

Comes down to a male was expelled for something which doesn't appear in the legal forms, and why not?

— kenny smith (@kennysmith) February 13, 2015

.@syd_cromwell "A challenge I didn't foresee was making students care." Did get a lot of positive response from faculty.

— kenny smith (@kennysmith) February 13, 2015

Photo editor @nelson_sam93 heard from a student recruiter, "Why are you making Samford look bad?"

— kenny smith (@kennysmith) February 13, 2015

Think about that for a while. Just think about it.

— kenny smith (@kennysmith) February 13, 2015

.@halleyesmith says it has been helpful because now more students are approaching the staff to look into real stories.

— kenny smith (@kennysmith) February 13, 2015

.@halleyesmith "We are willing to challenge the status quo and to give a voice."

— kenny smith (@kennysmith) February 13, 2015

Question on criminal charges. @syd_cromwell says they were never filed. The assault incident went through campus channels.

— kenny smith (@kennysmith) February 13, 2015

.@syd_cromwell is up there talking about Clery like she crafted the legislature.

— kenny smith (@kennysmith) February 13, 2015

Question on @SamfordCrimson relationship with @SamfordU media relations. Some of them are in the room. "I want to hear your answer first!"

— kenny smith (@kennysmith) February 13, 2015

.@feathers_878 calls it a good relationship. @halleyesmith talks about @samfordjmc chair @BernieAnkney his great support of @SamfordCrimson

— kenny smith (@kennysmith) February 13, 2015

.@syd_cromwell: "I think administration likes us more than SGA, to be honest."

— kenny smith (@kennysmith) February 13, 2015

.@halleyesmith "I got my very first hate mail," from a student. "And I framed it."

— kenny smith (@kennysmith) February 13, 2015

Great question from a @ASUHornetNation student- journalist about getting professors willing to do interviews.

— kenny smith (@kennysmith) February 13, 2015

.@halleyesmith talks about fostering relationships among student and faculty, trying to combat student apathy.

— kenny smith (@kennysmith) February 13, 2015

Another student-journalist talks about keeping up morale in the face of student apathy.

— kenny smith (@kennysmith) February 13, 2015

One of the duties @halleyesmith took on as managing editor is shoring up morale. (She's pretty fantastic at it.)

— kenny smith (@kennysmith) February 13, 2015

Mr. Poole is the go to man at Samford for media relations. He's talking about the professional relationship we have. (He's a good egg.)

— kenny smith (@kennysmith) February 13, 2015

Poole: "I have been so impressed with this staff. I'd say that if they weren't in the room. Do I like all of their stories? No."

— kenny smith (@kennysmith) February 13, 2015

Poole talks about the relationship/understanding the university and administration has with @SamfordCrimson. We are very fortunate indeed.

— kenny smith (@kennysmith) February 13, 2015

The university president is an old student-media veteran. He tells them he gets what they do.

— kenny smith (@kennysmith) February 13, 2015

.@halleyesmith says they have been vociferously told over and over about how much trouble they are NOT going to get into.

— kenny smith (@kennysmith) February 13, 2015

.@feathers_878 "We are making it known that we care. That the Crimson is something that should be taken seriously."

— kenny smith (@kennysmith) February 13, 2015

.@syd_cromwell "I've taken an unhealthy pride in making a list of people that are mad at me." Quality work, she says, is her mark to meet.

— kenny smith (@kennysmith) February 13, 2015

You should have seen his face the moment before, @halleyesmith gave him a "Hate to break this to ya" moment. pic.twitter.com/cKABCUAmbS

— kenny smith (@kennysmith) February 13, 2015

Then I hustled back to campus and grabbed a bit of lunch. I had some class prep. I had a class. After class I helped a student worked through some story ideas. And then I hoped in the car and put the sun behind me:

East it was, then, to Atlanta. Almost made it there before dark, but for the ubiquitous traffic and an unfortunate accident I passed along the way. Made it there in time, though. There was a concert. A terrific show.

And I’ll put stuff here about that tomorrow.

adventures / friends / Monday / photo — Comments Off
19
Jan 15

Back to the routine food schedule

We are having to eat normal food again, which means we have to prepare it or go out for it. Since we are still recovering from our travels we’ve not yet made it to the grocery store, which means we are eating out.

We stopped between the airport and home to get lunch yesterday at Zaxby’s. They’ve been in decline for the past few years, it seems, no matter the store. The slide has seemingly accelerated now that they are partnered with the Duck Dynasty brand. Not sure why. The burnt chicken niblets this time were perhaps a last straw.

For dinner last night we had barbecue at Jim ‘N’ Nick’s. Standing in line, waiting to be sat, The Yankee said “Don’t look,” because she knows one of my 21st century pet peeves is waiting for a table when there are plenty of tables available. I looked. And then I counted. A full 40 percent of the tables were empty and read for guests. We stood and waited. The head chef finally sat us. He and two other staff members came by to continually apologize for the delays. This seemed excessive. You got blindsided on Sunday evening. No one likes that, it is a staffing shortcoming, but it happens. And then the head chef took our orders, too.

We had breakfast at the Barbecue House this morning, because they have the best biscuits and they know our usuals. We try to go once a week or so. I’ve been going there for far, far too many years, but the breakfast is delicious.

We miss these guys, who brought us all manner of delicious foods on our cruise. This is our waiter, Iresh, from Mauritius. We’d learned his whole life story by the end of the cruise, and it is a good one. Now we are all Facebook friends.

This is Selvin, who was working as Iresh’s assistant. He is from Honduras, and was quiet and shy. Nice guy who was always Johnny on the spot.

Also, I miss the desserts they brought.

errands / Friday / friends / photo — Comments Off
2
Jan 15

Things I’ve received

I got a pair of broken glasses in November and an eye appointment two weeks ago to replace them. Ignored at that doctor’s office, I made a new appointment, today, with another eye doctor.

I got my appointment rescheduled earlier this week. Seems the doctor didn’t want to come back to the office after lunch. So this morning, then, I waited 75 minutes to meet the doctor. I got this picture of the chart while I waited. I zoomed in on my camera phone, and then zoomed in on the picture so I could read them. When the doctor did come in he managed to not introduce himself.

I got into a long debate with this new doctor because he somehow ascertained that his machine told him a radically off result for my vision. That meant a lecture by the doctor because, I think, he somehow assumed that this error was something I was advocating. We followed that up with the pleasure of someone sticking their fingers in my eyes.

And I got a trial pair of contacts and the persistent sensation that something is in my eye. Perhaps because something was in my eye. Even now, with them out, and maybe I did that right, it feels like there’s something in my eye. Also, so far, I find that putting them in is easier than taking them out.

I’m still not sure what all of the letters are on the last line.

I got the perverse pleasure of watching my 16-gallon gas tank fill up beyond 16 gallons. Coasted in again. And I received the joy of filling up for less than $40, which was great after the expense of the eye test.

I got a very average haircut from a stylist perfectly uninterested in small talk. The extent of it was pointing out the cowlicks.

And, tonight, we got to have dinner with Mae Margaret, an old Auburn friend.

adventures / friends / I do not know what is happening. / memories / Monday / photo / running / video — Comments Off
29
Dec 14

“Due to a copyright takedown notice …”

A year and a half ago I picked up some music for video beds and, today, I got a take down notice about one of them from YouTube. Someone had filed a complaint and now I have “a strike.”

I looked up the company and it seems they are doing this a lot, granting licenses and then revoking them for whatever reason. I suppose they feel they can get some sort of monetary gain from that. It is, in the common parlance, a shakedown.

So the old video was gone, which meant a page on my site did not have the appropriate video. And if there is one thing around here that we don’t abide by it is Errors That We Know About.

We are perfectly fine with Errors Of Which We Are Unaware.

So when you spot the bountiful errors, point them out. They get fixed with equal parts chagrin and alacrity.

Anyway, I had to find the right page, which was easily narrowed down to three or four, based on the context. And then I had to find the proper video. Of course, I wanted to upload the video again, this time with music from someone who isn’t a con artist. So I had to dig up the original video, which took a few searches, but was easy to find in the scheme of things. Feeling as though I was lucky to still have it, I loaded it in the video editor, dropped out the now illicit music, made an edit and then put in some bed music that hasn’t been pulled out from under me. The other music was better, but this is fine. I had some graphic considerations, and I figured that, since I was there, I may as well put it in the new video style. And here it is, new template, old video, acceptable new tune:

Took 15 minutes.

And no, I’m not updating all of my old videos to this template. It will probably wear on me soon enough as it is.

On the other hand, I got to read through my notes and see the videos and photos that I took on our trip with Jessica and Adam to Ireland in the summer of 2013, and that was grand. And, in one of those happy little coincidences, all of the headers (randomized for your variety) that I get when I refresh the page are from Ireland. Delightful.

Here are a few of the pages, now: The Cliffs of Moher, On Inisheer, the Aran Islands and On Inishmore, the Aran Islands.

I should just make a category and link to that, so amazing was the entire trip. We could then just jump to that amazing time in a wonderous place with ease. Give me a minute …

OK, when you want to go to Ireland, just go to Ireland.

About three days into that one of us said “We should have kept count on how many times we said ‘Oh wow!’ as we rounded each curve.” And we should have.

On the eighth day, seriously, we started contemplating employment there. Just beautiful.

Today was also lovely. The wind chill was just at freezing this morning when I went out for a run:

It took 1.75 miles to get warm. The last 2.25 miles were just hard, but I got in four miles for the day.

And then we spent the rest of the day watching football and trying to stay warm.

Our sunset:

An altogether fine Monday, the last of the old year, and two cheers for that. Hope your week is filled with more relaxation than work. Stop back by here, though. There will be plenty going on, of course.

football / friends / photo / weekend — Comments Off
6
Dec 14

All of the football

Our old friend Brian is here. He and I used to work together. He’s known The Yankee and I as a couple longer than anyone, we think. We’ve done and been through a little bit of most everything in life with Brian and his family. He’s a great friend that we don’t get to see nearly often enough.

This weekend, we are catching up some. And we are having a watch party.

If you look closely, you’ll see his two phones — because Brian is that kind of guy, sitting just beneath the television. We didn’t watch it like this, really, but we wanted to see how many screens we could pull up at one time. In the last five years, at various intersections of schedules that allow watch parties, we’ve gone from two games to five, then six and eight and, now, 10. There are 10 screens showing a football game in the picture above.

Ten!

We were also taking pictures with two more phones, and I think there were two laptops down the street we weren’t borrowing, so this could have been an even more ridiculous photo.

The first point: football.

The second point: I give Charter their fair of grief for this and that, because they deserve it from time to time. But that’s some nice bandwidth right there. Kudos on that.

The third point: Brian’s a good guy. It is great to see him.