Make a Conscious Choice to Buy Local!

It's important! I am working on a post for a regional blog and have been thinking a lot about this subject lately. I also just finished a story about it at work. If you haven't checked out www.the350project.net yet, please do. It's the simplest, most down to earth, version I've seen of this message.

No Longer Snowed In

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. Work has been busy, so has my social life, and then this week we got more than a foot and a half of snow. The snowstorm left us without power for 36 hours and without phones & internet access until this morning. Susan and I were making necessary calls on our cells (hoping we'd get power back before our batteries died), melting snow on our gas stove so that we would have water with which to flush the toilets, and bringing in lots of wood for the fireplace in order to keep warm. Thankfully, I had a stockpile of bottled water and regular batteries and Susan has a NOAA radio. I had a lot of work to catch up on once I made it into the office but, if you check out my organization's website, you'll see the results of some of my work on the homepage.

Finally, I thought I'd share some pictures I took of our beautiful winter wonderland (though I know that some of you have seen more than enough snow recently). Enjoy!

The view from Susan's deck doesn't really do the depth of the snow justice, because that's where we took a lot of snow from since it was easy to reach with our slippers on, but it is the best example I have.

Finally our driveway, notice all the dark stuff? The temperatures have been so warm, even during the snowstorm, that the ground is a muddy mess. We actually asked our plow driver to stop plowing, though there were still some moguls in the way, because if he didn't we'd get stuck!

Oh, and I couldn't resist sharing this picture of Casey. She had so much fun bounding through the snow that she exhausted herself. I call this one, "Pooped Pup"!

Organizing, 'Nuff Said

Well, maybe not. I was quite productive this weekend, after experiencing a rough work week. Work wasn't bad, just tiring and a little stressful. I did, however, complete my third topical story for our website and it was up all of this long weekend. I ran around completing errands yesterday and now have a six shelf, cloth, organizer hanging in my closet (I needed someplace to put my sweaters), a new 4GB USB flash drive ($12), and "Fringe" season 1 ($9.99 at Best Buy).

I am a little ticked at Best Buy, though, and am not really sure I want to be giving them a shout out in this blog. They changed their rewards program so that points now expire at the end of every year. This would be fine, I think, if points posted right away, but they don't. They take 35 days to post. I don't think corporate has realized what this means to consumers and I'm considering writing them a letter. I mean, there will be a month, or a month and a half, each year when, assuming I can get the same item for the same price at another store, I will not have any incentive to give my money to Best Buy. It also means that I just lost 131 points and have to start over. GRUMP! :)

Soup & Games Night was Awesome!

I had a blast again tonight. I played "Hearts" with a large, and rotating, group of people (sometimes we played solo and other times with a partner). I think there were seven or eight people sitting around the table for the last hand and there were three teams of two that time. I also got to play "Cosmic Wimpout" with two of the game's creators. How cool is that?! I was very rusty and didn't get very far but it sure was interesting. At the very end of the night, we demonstrated the game "Apples to Apples" for the folks at our table who weren't familiar with it. We laughed a lot the last time we played it and have put it on the agenda for next time. If you aren't familiar with these games, I suggest you Google them as they are lots of fun.

A Couple of Quick Updates

My piece on homelessness is up on my work's homepage. It won't be there for long because we are trying to keep the homepage current and we have a new story coming in today, I think. If you want to see my piece and don't have my work website, or you don't see my piece when you get there, email me and I'll send you the link.

My first radio show, featuring "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll, Chapters 1 & 2, will air on Saturday. Unfortunately, I don't think any of you are in the listening area but I will try to put it online somewhere and let you know.

Another First for Me!

Yesterday, I conducted my first phone interview. As you know, my background is not in journalism. My new job description, however, includes providing up to date content on our website. When we don't have new videos, I sometimes need to create them. In an effort to provide more topical coverage I am getting my reporting feet wet and covering the issue of homelessness in our town. The manager of a nearby shelter agreed to a short interview but I didn't have time to drive out of town to conduct it. Instead I went into our radio studio and did the interview there. I got a chance to practice with new, to me, technology and hone my communication skills. It was scary but, in the end, satisfying.

In other news, I wrote an essay based on my previous blog post and plan on submitting it to a friend's blog. I'll let you know if it's accepted.

A Sad, Sad Day for Massachusetts.

Wow. I'm still stunned. Not to mention upset. I've been following some of the news coverage of what happened in yesterday's election, to fill the late Senator Edward Kennedy's seat in Congress, and I think that many of the people who voted for Scott Brown are going to realize they made a mistake. I predict that, within the next six months, "Don't blame me, I voted for Coakley" bumper stickers are going to start appearing on cars around the Bay State. If this one vote really means that the entire nation heads back down into the awful mess we were in under the prior administration, Massachusetts voters for Brown will feel even worse. It will be interesting to see where we go from here once the election hoopla has subsided. Stay tuned.