Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Not a good Monday for paper sales

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.22.40
Current Song - TPIR Theme

It was not a good day for Gazette sales at work on Monday.

Out of the 25 we got that day, we only sold 6.

Here's the shocking part ...

We sold 11/11 Chicago Tribunes, 7/7 Chicago Sun-Times', 4/5 Quad City Times', and 5/7 USA Todays. In the three years I've been counting newspapers at work, this has never happened. No wonder why the Journal-Standard cut Mondays.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Highland Writing Complete

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.71.40
Current Song - Peg (Steely Dan)

I sent in my last Highland Chronicle piece and pics just now. All I have left to do is put together my portfolio.

I added another ICCJA Award to my brief list of accomplishments. I got Honorable Mention for best sports story. It was the one on the Volleyball team. You can see that HERE, and click on "October" and scroll down until you find it. I drove to Clinton to do that story, so it paid off. That is paired with my 2nd place in 2007. I felt that if I went to more Highland events than what I did, I may have done a better job writing.

That was my plans for today. I'm bored until 4:00 p.m. now.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

One Last Piece

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.41.40
Current Song - More Than Words (Extreme)

There is only one more piece for the Chronicle left to be written. I've got almost all of the copy editing done for everyone else. It is due on Thursday. After that, no more articles! Just sitting back and doing nothing the duration of the semester. One chapter will end, and another will begin. Well, actually, I'm not writing any more JUCO sports after this article. It will be off to Sauk, where I registered for two Internet courses.

I can't wait to get this burden off of my back. No, I'm not hating the industry, but JUCO sports and monthly features are not my thing. Give me the gamer, sports news piece and historical recap any day. No more un-needed trips 45 miles away for a sports picture, or an interview. It will save me on gas money. Maybe the savings account will grow.

I'm tired right now. I've been up 27 hours. The body can't take it anymore these days.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Happy Easter!

Cutter's Log - 9002.21.40
Current Song - Tired of Being Alone (Al Green)

I've got my mind wrapped around the NISB Honor Roll at the moment. Check it out on the Message Boards.

I got a rare opportunity to work at another Shell station on Wednesday night. I closed at the Shell on Rt. 30 in Rock Falls. The chores were no different, but the paperwork was 180 degrees. I would fill in there again if given the chance.

It turned out to be a much-needed payroll boost. I only worked two days last week. I'm only doing three nights this week, and three nights the next week: 15, 17, 18 & 20, 22, 24.

There's not much else to write in the blog as of late. Nothing drastic has happened. But I did win $50 on a scratch-off ticket Saturday morning at the Rt. 30 station. That $50 will be going into the savings account. I want to try to see how long I can go without withdrawing from it.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

I've had this in my head

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.08.04
Current Song - Silly Love Songs (Paul McCartney)

I know NISB isn't doing so well. I'm not able to get around to everywhere I want to. For the first time I'm realizing that I really can't focus on such a large area. But I love northern Illinois too much to abandon it.

Work (my real work at Shell) and college classes have made it difficult for me to travel all over. The traffic on the site has also decreased since I can't cover a whole lot. Now, I really want to remain a prep sportswriter, and not be know as a gas station clerk. I don't want to do that for the rest of my life. The job economy looks bleak around here, unless I can punch something out.

Since I'm most familiar with online journalism, I want to start looking at online sites. There are a lot out there; some I've helped out with too. But I want to start local, and work my way out. Before I started NISB, I wrote a lot about Sterling, Rock Falls, Newman and Dixon sports. The sites I worked for have since evolved into their own entities.

I want to see if either the Sterling or Rock Falls sites are interested in hiring me to write for them (as an indy contractor). It doesn't matter which school, really, but I can't do both. It's something I like to do as long as I got paid for it. $20 an article for six days would almost equal my week's pay at Shell.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Blog Under Construction

Cutter's Log - Special Entry

Sometimes I fail to realize that "open book" people like me get some flack for saying EVERYTHING.

I've had this #35's Waste of Space for almost four years (4/28/2005). In this blog-journal I mention a lot of things that happened during the particular day. After I found out I had Asperger's Syndrome, I like to think my life is an open book. I used to be very closed up, and a lot of people didn't know a whole lot about what I was thinking.

The WoS journal (this) is one of the ways I communicate with people, since I have such a hard time speaking to them. Still, there are a lot of people that don't understand why I use this as a means of communication.

I met up with a former co-worker of mine the other day. He noticed his name was mentioned in this blog. He didn't like that fact that I mentioned him. That's completely alright. I told him I fail to realize that there are certain things people like to keep private, while I type it in here. He did a Google search of his name, and found this blog.

There are a lot of names in this blog. The first full name you'll find after this entry is "Woody Paige." However, a Google search for Woody Paige will turn up thousands and thousands of results. He is a sports columnist for the Denver Post, as well as a panelist on Around the Horn. But the people I know personally are eventually going to find their name on this blog.

So I'm going to go back and take out the last names of all the people I know - and I want the web crawlers to go through this real fast.

I even had to destroy complete entries.


So, if I mentioned your full name on my blogs in the past, I sincerely apologize. I just didn't realize the perspective from the other point of view. I will just put first names of the people I know on here for now on.

Is that alright, let me know. Thanks.