Trials, tribulations and uncertainty
Tuesday, October 24, 2006 by Daren Darrow
I have been debating for quite some time what to make of my blog. I’ve lost direction for it and am trying to find a way to reinvent a purpose for it.
For most of this, and my previous blogs, purpose had been to talk about my daily life. The mundane portions, along with the emotional rollercoaster my life has often been. But that purpose doesn’t suit me any longer.
Should I make it an opinion blog about daily news I read? (I defiantly read enough of it to have an opinion)
Should I keep talking about my life? Or should I post about my feelings and interactions with other people?
Should I post humorous things I find online and in life?
Perhaps a merging of all of these things in the posts? I don’t know what will become of it, but for now I am just going to try to add a bit of each of these into my posts. I’m going to give each one more thought and not have many single topic, quick posts.
Essentially I will create a budget for posts and I’ll talk about those items.
☐ ☐ ☐
I found this section in Barnes and Noble the other day. I mean come on. 'New History?' What is that? That’s like saying 'future tomorrow' or 'present day.' Seriously B&N, you're not only a bookstore but also a publisher. I expect more from you.
☐ ☐ ☐
Work has been trying lately. Things are beginning to grate on me. We seem to be perpetually understaffed and constantly loosing someone at The Argus, so we seem to always be training someone new. Rich was trained and things were starting to go very nicely when we were all there, but they needed someone to fill a position at the Oakland Tribune and he took it. I'm glad for him since it's closer to his apartment, but it sucks that we get to start over again training someone new. (not to mention me breaking in a new slave - note: that may be a total inside joke, but at some point I started calling Rich a slave and it stuck.)
The other issue that bothers me with ANG/MediaNews group is how there seem to be a total lack of concern for quality from management. Except for a few editors I work for, no one seems to care. We arbitrarly ignore Associated Press style, I believe because they want to make it where there are less 'issues' to correct in copy edited material, so that they can continue to under staff us. And it shows in the quality of our paper. Our page designs are fine mostly, somewhat of a miracle considering we are using a page design program from 1995. But we get crap from our editor at The Argus if a mistake is made. Something none of the other copy editors/ page designers seem to get with the other papers. And I don't mind knowing when I do something wrong. I don't plan on being at ANG forever, so it's good to correct mistakes. But many managers seem to only be focused on selling ads and getting a product on peoples doorsteps and not concerned with having a quality, readable paper. It sucks for me. It sucks for our few, in my opinion, good reporters. And it is bad for our readers.
☐ ☐ ☐
I ran across this today on QueerClick and fell in love with it. I think I'm more of a Pringles man myself. Which flavor would you be? Let me know by clicking here and leaving a comment.
☐ ☐ ☐
We went on a little spending spree today. It was fun and didn't do much damage. All the shopping got me in the mood for cold weather, which won't happen here. All the Christmas decorations and fall/harvest things made me feel 'warm.' Mostly the harvest things. Those of you who know me, know that I really don't care for Christmas. (Halloween is my favorite holiday, but I don't know if what I'm doing this year. I didn't even decorate :( )
We bought a few toys for Balthazar today, including a motorized toy that keeps him busy. I don't know if he loves it, or hate it. But he is always playing with it and not attacking us. So it's great. It's called the SmartyKat Loco!Motion. It's kept him busy and tired him. So he's actually sleeping now.
I'm on the lookout for some thin sweaters, most likely cashmere because I love it. I found a few at JCrew that I like, but are too horribly expensive since I'm trying to save money to move into S.F.
☐ ☐ ☐
We are going tomorrow to look at Park West Apartments. We don't really know anything about them, other than what is on that Web site. I can't find information about them elsewhere. So we're just going to go check it out. It's in one of the areas we want to live, and covered parking is included. So hopefully we can afford it. Mostly it's just trying to save the money for a deposit that has been a problem for us.
We were considering staying in Fremont if we couldn't afford it, at least for now. But since I got confirmation from work that we will indeed be moving to Pleasanton about the first of the year, I don't want to stay in Fremont. I could drive everyday and it would be fine. It's only a 15-20 minute drive. But I'd rather take BART and not worry about it. Plus it gives me time to read, listen to my iPod etc. And taking BART from Fremont to there takes an hour because I have to travel up the line in the opposite direction to transfer to the line going there. So if I'm going to travel for an hour on BART, it needs to be worth it.
☐ ☐ ☐
Wow, that may be the longest post I've made in a while, but it feels worth it. Let's see if I keep up this dedication.
For most of this, and my previous blogs, purpose had been to talk about my daily life. The mundane portions, along with the emotional rollercoaster my life has often been. But that purpose doesn’t suit me any longer.
Should I make it an opinion blog about daily news I read? (I defiantly read enough of it to have an opinion)
Should I keep talking about my life? Or should I post about my feelings and interactions with other people?
Should I post humorous things I find online and in life?
Perhaps a merging of all of these things in the posts? I don’t know what will become of it, but for now I am just going to try to add a bit of each of these into my posts. I’m going to give each one more thought and not have many single topic, quick posts.
Essentially I will create a budget for posts and I’ll talk about those items.
Hello Barnes and Noble. WTF?
I found this section in Barnes and Noble the other day. I mean come on. 'New History?' What is that? That’s like saying 'future tomorrow' or 'present day.' Seriously B&N, you're not only a bookstore but also a publisher. I expect more from you.
Will E. Wonka and the newspaper factory
Work has been trying lately. Things are beginning to grate on me. We seem to be perpetually understaffed and constantly loosing someone at The Argus, so we seem to always be training someone new. Rich was trained and things were starting to go very nicely when we were all there, but they needed someone to fill a position at the Oakland Tribune and he took it. I'm glad for him since it's closer to his apartment, but it sucks that we get to start over again training someone new. (not to mention me breaking in a new slave - note: that may be a total inside joke, but at some point I started calling Rich a slave and it stuck.)
The other issue that bothers me with ANG/MediaNews group is how there seem to be a total lack of concern for quality from management. Except for a few editors I work for, no one seems to care. We arbitrarly ignore Associated Press style, I believe because they want to make it where there are less 'issues' to correct in copy edited material, so that they can continue to under staff us. And it shows in the quality of our paper. Our page designs are fine mostly, somewhat of a miracle considering we are using a page design program from 1995. But we get crap from our editor at The Argus if a mistake is made. Something none of the other copy editors/ page designers seem to get with the other papers. And I don't mind knowing when I do something wrong. I don't plan on being at ANG forever, so it's good to correct mistakes. But many managers seem to only be focused on selling ads and getting a product on peoples doorsteps and not concerned with having a quality, readable paper. It sucks for me. It sucks for our few, in my opinion, good reporters. And it is bad for our readers.
Which flavor do you prefer?
I ran across this today on QueerClick and fell in love with it. I think I'm more of a Pringles man myself. Which flavor would you be? Let me know by clicking here and leaving a comment.
You'll turn into a pumpkin at midnight Cinderella
We went on a little spending spree today. It was fun and didn't do much damage. All the shopping got me in the mood for cold weather, which won't happen here. All the Christmas decorations and fall/harvest things made me feel 'warm.' Mostly the harvest things. Those of you who know me, know that I really don't care for Christmas. (Halloween is my favorite holiday, but I don't know if what I'm doing this year. I didn't even decorate :( )
We bought a few toys for Balthazar today, including a motorized toy that keeps him busy. I don't know if he loves it, or hate it. But he is always playing with it and not attacking us. So it's great. It's called the SmartyKat Loco!Motion. It's kept him busy and tired him. So he's actually sleeping now.
I'm on the lookout for some thin sweaters, most likely cashmere because I love it. I found a few at JCrew that I like, but are too horribly expensive since I'm trying to save money to move into S.F.
Mov'n on up
We are going tomorrow to look at Park West Apartments. We don't really know anything about them, other than what is on that Web site. I can't find information about them elsewhere. So we're just going to go check it out. It's in one of the areas we want to live, and covered parking is included. So hopefully we can afford it. Mostly it's just trying to save the money for a deposit that has been a problem for us.
We were considering staying in Fremont if we couldn't afford it, at least for now. But since I got confirmation from work that we will indeed be moving to Pleasanton about the first of the year, I don't want to stay in Fremont. I could drive everyday and it would be fine. It's only a 15-20 minute drive. But I'd rather take BART and not worry about it. Plus it gives me time to read, listen to my iPod etc. And taking BART from Fremont to there takes an hour because I have to travel up the line in the opposite direction to transfer to the line going there. So if I'm going to travel for an hour on BART, it needs to be worth it.
In conclusion
Wow, that may be the longest post I've made in a while, but it feels worth it. Let's see if I keep up this dedication.
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