xcheck's hat tricks -- award winning journalist!

[xcheck24]

hey mudge bite me

read the first comment:
http://www.westportnow.com/index.php?/v ... nts/13766/

[xcheck24]

there's a guy in my online class that is going to drive me up the wall. he's telling me that my story about emergency preparedness (about how people aren't prepared and how emergency officials are trying to counter that) is not newsworthy because flooding doesn't happen in connecticut. maybe I should show him the photos from the flood last spring in westport. or how the coast floods when there's a hurricane. or the press release i just got about gov. rell trying to get federal aid to help people who were flooded earlier this month.

i'm glad that guy's not my editor.

[charlesp]

which, with all the love you have for your real editor, is saying something.

[xcheck24]

gordon's not really my editor
but i do seek advice from him on things, and he would never tell me outright "that's not a story." if he thought it was a better story a different way, he'd tell me how to make it better. and we'd discuss it and make it better. had that happen today on something that I have to wait until monday to get more involved with.

this guy is one of the "going to grad school to change careers" guys. while i applaud him for it, it appears to me that his news sense is not all the way there and that his bias (he made some other comments that made it appear that people who live in flood zones shouldn't be helped at all) get in the way.

[xcheck24]

holy crap! i have a job interview tomorrow!

[ragingredhawk]

good luck!

[xcheck24]

so the interview went well. the guy said he was going to forward my information on to the guy I would work for. I'd have to talk to him next. It sounds like an exciting venture they want to do (online stuff). Not so sure I definetely want to do this because there's so much newspaper still in me, but I have to take a chance.

[pengwenn]

Speaking of writing.....I believe there is a new challenge up you should do.

[xcheck24]

yeah I know. and i want to. but i have this thesis to write. i have to get a draft of something done in the next week or so.

how come we cant have a cursing smilie?!?!

[pengwenn]

Because this is a family site and charles would have to:

[xcheck24]

well, i dont drop the f-bomb like a good girl (although that's not me normally haha), but if we had the cursing smilie i could use that instead of saying f#$% (which will get censored as evidenced here)

like this smilie:

[xcheck24]

so today i alerted the boss that i am in search of a new job as a courtesy to him. he was always under the pretense that my involvement was a grad school thing.

well, he said to me that perhaps he should make the job full-time and pay me more

nevermind that i just need to leave connecticut and on to a different market. . .*sigh*

[pengwenn]

Could you take the full time job in the mean time? Bank the "extra" money . . . or spend it on books.

[xcheck24]

well, i think he would only do that if i was offered a job. and it's not like he offered it to me straight up right at the moment.

and i dont know if i could do full-time for him right now. he's demanding of me now under a "part-time" situation. and i have this dang thesis, remember?

[xcheck24]

what a crazy, crazy day

first off i had to get up at 7 so i could be in westport at 8:30. Why? Cuz I was going on "media day" with the fire department. they had us put on the gear and threw us in a burning building. ok, it wasnt THAT bad. haha. We had firefighters with us (I had the one firefighter I don't know so well as my guide) and they showed us around. It was really cool to see what those guys do, and believe me I could never EVER do it. I'm tired and I hurt my knee crawling around on the ground. In fact, I couldn't go back in on the second round cuz I knew I'd screw it up worse if I went in again.

So then I bolted, came home, showered and went BACK to go to a thing at police hdqts. Well, i get there and no one is around. "oh, there's a bank robbery." "bye guys!" and I headed over there. Still got both stories (cuz I rock, of course).

[xcheck24]

i get a text message from one of my friends. she quit her job. I call her. she's going to the dark side. such a sad day when a reporter type goes to the dark side.

[charlesp]

define the dark side?

[xcheck24]

PR

[pengwenn]

are you going to pull out lightsaber? Beware the power of the dark side.....

[xcheck24]

haha
it's just what we all call it. ive never heard it called something else. haha

[xcheck24]

i love reading the meeting updates for my writers group:

"However, she's now given Murray a potential love interest who has cinnamon eyes and raspberry lips floating on a creamy complexion. Yes, Joyce, so when do they BANG??"

[bfsooner]

Sounds like the love interest is something you could find at a bakery.

[xcheck24]

i left before she read, so i dont know where he met her. . .but maybe he met her in a bakery. her descriptions are usually tied in well.

[xcheck24]

ok, so today I wrote a whole THREE PAGES of my thesis. Go me.
But that's three more pages than I had. . .which was NONE. So I'm proud of myself.

Meanwhile, the surveys keep rolling in. Got another one today. And everyone always writes on the top "good luck" and things along those lines. AND they all want the results. Makes me feel good about my research.

Meanwhile, this has been a crazy, crazy reporting day. I wrote two stories. Edited the new intern's first story. Reported a few other stories. You know it's a crazy day when you have lunch at 4:30 p.m. But damn, that was a good turkey sandwich!

I'm proud of the reporting I've done this week, though, because I'm just running circles around everyone else whether it's because of my deadlines (we're 24 hours since we're on the web) or because I just rock.

[xcheck24]