Disconnect? That's one blogger's take on GSUSA's branding and cookies

"New Girl Scout Brand Undermined By Health Hazard Cookies" is the headline of a blog post on Getting Attention: Helping Non-profits Succeed Through Effective Marketing.

Blog author Nancy E. Schwartz ties into the branding of Girl Scouts as fit for modern girls as brought up in a Washington Post article. (Same branding issues expected to be discussed on Friday's Today Show.) She starts off:

"I love the Girl Scouts and actually was one for a couple of years long ago. Still have a great orange layer cake recipe captured in my quest for the cooking merit badge. And now our daughter Charlotte is a Daisy (pre-Brownies).

So I was dismayed to learn that the Girl Scouts are stumbling with the introduction of their new brand. The brand (read on for details) is inconsistent with the Girl Scouts most public action -- the cookie program. As a result, instead of helping the org to move forward, it introduces doubts about the organization's credibility, values and leadership."

What gets this blogger going is that Girl Scouts do not "walk the talk" by using unhealthy cookies as a revenue generator. It's this quote in the Washington Post that Schwartz refers to:

"The biggest change is last year's debut of Journeys, a pilot curriculum that will mostly replace the system of earning badges on specific topics. Girls still will be able to earn badges if they want, but Journeys rarely mentions them, focusing instead on broader themes, including teamwork and healthy living. Rather than scouts earning a badge for cooking a single nutritious meal, for example, the books emphasize fruits and vegetables whenever food is mentioned," reports the Washington Post.

Schwartz suggests the organization needs "a revenue generator that fits its new brand - or cut healthy eating out of its talk. Or, as one commenter below suggests, recommend eating these and other cookies in moderation (there's a merit badge for you)."

At least the cookies generate lots of "healthy" discussion about Girl Scouts all over the web, right?

Related posts:

• Newsweek enters GS cookie battle
• Cookies are safe, kosher, less fat - find the news on MySpace, Facebook, Internet
• Girl Scout cookies save a life

Editor lost it when laid off; you don't have to

Mike Tharp knows how hard it can be to be laid off. He knows how you can chase off family. He knows how you can get depressed and burn bridges you may need.

"I'd been through the deaths of a father, a mother and a brother, who was closer to me than anybody. I'd been through divorce. I'd been through war, as a soldier and as a correspondent."

But a phone call ending his 14-year career as a bureau chief in Tokyo and correspondent on the West Coast was harder.

He wrote down what they wanted back, things like the laptop and cellphone. He wrote down what to expect, things like severance papers and a nondisclosure agreement.

He heard the managing editor blame economics and say it was "no reflection on you or your work."

But for 40 years, "My business card had been my backstage pass to life".

Tharp fell hard, becoming a recluse, becoming depressed. But now, he wants you to know there's hope.

"You can get through this. You can get back your pride, your sense of accomplishment. It takes hard work -- hard brutal psychic work. It takes family and friends. It takes luck -- like the luck that brought me to Merced almost two years ago.

The worst thing I did was to stop working out. I'd played basketball, run distance and lifted weights since I was a teenager. I stopped doing that. You've got to push your body to get your mind and soul right.

My second-biggest mistake was to become, as my friends said, a recluse. You've got to reopen yourself to human contact.

Exercise and companionship.

Seems like a simple enough formula. But you've got to overcome what feels like a mountain on your shoulders to reach out and do that.

You may also have to take a job you don't like. You may have to learn new skills. You may have to accept a lower salary. You may have to commute. You may have to move. You may have to take a pill. I had to do all those.

Some of you will find solace in God, religion, faith. That wasn't my way. It may be your way. If so, follow that path.

All that's left in the lesson is that I know all too well how anybody feels who has been -- or will be -- laid off. My life was changed forever. "

Read his post. Get some hope from the executive editor of the Merced Sun Star.

Few would miss local newspaper

Did you know that nearly 7 of every 10 Americans say they could easily live without a local newspaper.

The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press opened its report on the study this way:

"As many newspapers struggle to stay economically viable, fewer than half of Americans (43%) say that losing their local newspaper would hurt civic life in their community "a lot." Even fewer (33%) say they would personally miss reading the local newspaper a lot if it were no longer available."

The same study asked where people get their news:

"About two-thirds (68%) say they regularly get local news from television reports or television station websites, 48% say they regularly get news from local newspapers in print or online, 34% say they get local news regularly from radio and 31% say they get their local news, more generally, from the internet."

Nearly 85 percent of Americans are at least aware of the struggles of newspapers, but this report shows why you won't see much concern in the communities that will be without local newspapers.

New math tackles laid off

Every Monday, you get a new illustration for new math.

Speaking of layoffs, check out what Jim of L-Town says will happen to 3 Michigan newspapers. No official response, even when the local Flint TV stations have picked up on his entry.

Twittering, Digg makes late night tv talk

Wow. This tech stuff is hot.

First, Ellen Degeneres and Jay Leno start talking about Twitter and Facebook.

Then, on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon there's Kevin Rose and Alex Albrech discussing how Digg works. They even bring out four laptops - three Macs and 1 PC - to show folks how to Digg something. Somehow, I think that more folks saw that then when Fallon appeared on Dignation. But I can see that Fallon would watch Dignation, as it is "a weekly tech/web culture show based on the top digg.com social bookmarking news stories."

By the way, an audience member got a big boost in Twitter followers. Folks were asked to get Bryan Brinkman more popular than the president by following him at https://twitter.com/bryanbrinkman. Last I looked, he had more than 12,000 followers. At the start of the show, he had 7.

Thanks to a post on Twitter picked up throughFriendFeed, I finally found out what number I am .... at least with the name I'm using these days - mcwflint. Supposedly, I am member number 9,131,322.

Here's how Ian D. Nock says to find it: If you hover over the RSS feed link you get a link to ....number.rss where number is your member id. Ev is 20, Dorsey is 12”

Enough. Time for sleep. (please)

Newsweek enters GS cookie battle

Kurt Soller asks "By banning online sales, are the Girl Scouts failing our daughters?" The item had 25 pages of comments by midnight of the day it was posted.

The article concerns an 8-year-old Girl Scout who wanted to earn enough money to send her whole troop to camp. Her dad works as chief operating officer of a Web design and development firm so a web site for orders made sense to the two of them.

I'm familiar with the discussion as it first came up in January when the girl's video first hit YouTube. (You can see it here)

I'm familiar with the selling cookies over the Internet because the troop I advised did it back in 1995-98 before the national office decided that wasn't something girls should do. The rules loosened up over the years to allow email solicitations (never did understand how that was supposed to be stopped.)

So since my troop did it in 1995, why is GSUSA still saying things like this:

"Girl Scouts of the USA is not shunning the Internet … though we still have to figure out how to do this."

That's from Michelle Tompkins, a spokeswoman, who aslo says the marketing of cookies is allowed online, but sales are still verboten. She also highlighted a few other online advances, including the recent creation of a Thin Mints Facebook page and the registering of girlscoutcookies.org, a Web site with information on how to buy cookies from local troops. (See my blog post: XXX).

Anyways, back to Freeborn and the video that got more then 700 orders within two weeks. Some folks were unhappy, including Matthew Markie who is quoted in the article and answers a lot of the comments.

"If you have an individual girl that creates a Web presence, she can suck the opportunity from other girls," says Matthew Markie, a parent who remains involved in Girl Scouts even though his three daughters are well into their 20s.

Markie, and other disapproving parents, brought the Freeborn's site to the attention of local Girl Scout officials who told the Freeborns to take down their YouTube video and reminded the family of the organization's longstanding prohibition of online sales.

If you'd rather read about cookies, then eat them try checking out 10 Girl Scout Cookie Crumbs or Sadie's Take:Samoa 4.0: One Scout's Celebrity Prompts Jealousy, Betrayal, Cookies

If you'd rather eat them, sales are down so help out by going to Girl Scout cookies online.

Related posts:

• Cookies are safe, kosher, less fat - find the news on MySpace, Facebook, Internet
• Girl Scout cookies save a life

Leno turning patriotic - free show for unemployed at Palace in April

Wow. Jay Leno is going to cheer up formerly employed autoworkers and others at a free comedy show at the Palace in April. Free parking and Pepsi too!

The announcement was on Monday's show and we're to watch the web site for details on how to get free tickets. It's the honor system, Leno says, so if you are unemployed and haven't taken the wife out lately come out and Leno says he will get us laughing.

He is doing it because comedy is what he can do in response to President Obama's plea that we all do something to stimulate economy .

Me? I am thinking I will let Leno know women are unemployed too. Yeah, my ears hurt when he repeated the wife line.

Cleveland paper praised in 'headcount slashing not enough' piece

Laura Rich Fine: Reducing headcount not enough

That's the headline on a PaidContent.org piece from a writer who admits she prefers print over digital right before praising Cleveland newspaper for its PDF-like version.

Plain Dealer publisher says online report of paper's imminent demise is 'baseless' - cleveland.com

Cleveland Plain Dealer Publisher Terrance Egger says a rumor about its closing is wrong.

"Every plan we have for the immediate future is to make that work," he told Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter Patrick O'Donnell.

O'Donnell also said that Egger wonders why no one asked him for comment.

Despite that, O'Donnell says the original writer who said the Cleveland news operation was one of 10 likley to fail in 2009 sticks by prediction.

"Douglas McIntyre said he talked to sources, whom he declined to name, at Advance Publications, as well as other industry experts for the story. He said he had no sources within management of The Plain Dealer itself.

McIntyre said he chose The Plain Dealer based on financial issues with Advance, with declining advertisements in The Plain Dealer and with the state of Cleveland's economy."

Many in the community are talking about the prediction, with some of the commenters blaming the internet for the newspaper's woes while others cite the city's decline. At least one person warns that the newspaper can't keep cutting staff and offering its paying customers less unique local news.

I found it interesting that the publisher said the newspaper did make money in 2008 and expects to do the same in 2009.

---

More posts about The Cleveland Dealer.

Magazine: Detroit News, Advance newspaper to fold or go digital

The Advance newspaper is supposedly the Cleveland newspaper, just one of many hard-hit newspapers. I tend to think a Michigan newspaper - or several - would go first (or maybe merge all eight into the MLive.com print edition. Reverse publishing from the web out might work. More on that later.) Meanwhile read about this:
10 major newspapers to fold or go digital, Time says

Social Security, mend your ways

I just got my annual Social Security statement. It's the one that tells me if I have enough credits to get Social Security now due to a disabililiy or later because I make it to age 62 or later.

The form even projects how much I will get if I start collecting at age 62 or 66 or later - IF I continue to make the same amount I made in the last year recorded.

First, 2007 is the last year recorded. I can't believe my 2008 number hasn't made it to their office in the computer age.

Second, wouldn't it be more useful to also include the amount I would collect if I never earn another dollar? I can safely assume given my age and background the probability of earning the same wage is zilch, I am grateful to find occasional paying jobs.

I am not even sure age and skills matter right now in this community. I see daily how tough the job market is for my daughter's boyfriend. Despite a great work record and working family and friend connections, he's in his fourth month of looking for a job.

So Social Security, get real. What can I get if I never work for money again?

How did I miss this death pool?

I'm cleaning out my inbox and blog drafts today when I ran across this item:

Star-Ledger Death Pool

How did I miss it? Where is the one that lists all the newspapers?

Celebration as mysterious as disease of MS

MS Awareness Week is getting as confusing as the disease multiple sclerosis.

Over on the National Multiple Sclerosis site, it is March 2-8. A lot of media sites are writing about the week, including a blogger in New York who uses the occasion to share her MS diagnosis. (She includes a few books she's read since A Shelf Life blog is about MS.)

But then I get an email notice that "National Multiple Sclerosis(MS) Awareness Week is March 15-21." It's on PR Newswire, which cites ProLine Communications as the source. The real focus of the release is how those with MS can build and manage a small business.

"In recognition of National MS Awareness Week, we are proposing a program that will offer practical start-up advice, life wisdom, and inspiration from small-business owners who are also coping with medical adversity."

You can read about a couple of businesses that were started by folks with MS. Not much on MS, though.

There is more on MS over on the MS Foundation site, which declares all of March as MS Awareness and Education Month. It's a part of a campaign to raise the visibility of MS. As the foundation says:

"More than 450,000 people in the United States have MS. Can you tell who they are? Often, even doctors find it difficult to diagnose this chronic, unpredictable illness. Its symptoms may seem to come and go and many are invisible. Fatigue, vertigo and cognitive changes, along with depression, bladder and bowel problems, and sexual dysfunction all are commonly experienced by people with MS, but known only to them."

By the way, lots of folks write about MS and their lives with MS. Start reading at the Carnival of MS Bloggers, which will lead you to a lot of blogs on MS for real awareness of the "now you see it, now you don't" disease of mine.

Fame fleeting so make most of Letterman

Two formerly employed reporters showed up in my feed today. One had a story on David Letterman's Small Town News segment Monday and became a story because Letterman's advice to "keep up the good work" went to a laid-off reporter. The other reporter was praised in Jeff Jarvis's Buzzmachine for "using the brand equity said employer helped him build - in his own tinseltown blog, Greg in Hollywood."

So here's hoping that Alicia Ebaugh reads Jarvis and quickly converts her Letterman fame into a job.

She doesn't have the brand equity of Greg Hernandez, who started his own blog just seven days after the Hollywood writer for the LA Daily News was laid off (and knows the value of promotion). But she's done a few blogs, including Generation Why, so with a Linked In page supplementing her Facebook page and a plan she could get going fast.

Poynter's Romenski picked up what Aaron Barnhart wrote about Ebaugh in Hope you're happy, Dave! "Small Town News" journalist dissed by Letterman was laid off last week (He includes the TV clip so you can decide if Letterman was praising or criticizing her when he discussed the October 2007 story about police arresting a man found in a compromising position with an inflatable doll in a public restroom.)

The reporter was one of 13 that Steve Buttry, then Gazette editor and now information content conductor led go Feb. 24 on "saddest day."

By the way, the Online Gazettee also covered the Letterman story, including a link to Barnhart's blog. But that story and the online police story leave out Ebaugh's name. See, fame is so fleeting.

Editors can view video for blogging idea

Sure, the American Society of Newspaper Editors Newspaper editors won't meet this year at its convention, but editors can keep learning. John Wilpers shares ideas for using bloggers to add content, reach, revenue in a video.

Could newspapers adopt the NPR fund-raising model?

June Thomas looks at the "10 cunning ways" that public radio raises money over on Slate. Her list includes these tactics:

• the perfect gift
• the guilt trip
• flattery
• match game

and these conversations:

• "We're here for you so you be here for us"
• "Your bill is due now"
• "Only you can save journalism"
• "You're not just helping us, you're helping your fellow listeners"
• "Stop me before I make the pitch again"

Plus the organizations do a good job of niche marketing, marketing shows with specific audiences.

"The best of public radio's weekend shows have distinct personalities: the discursive storytelling of This American Life, the self-deprecating bickering of Car Talk, and the cozy in-jokes of A Prairie Home Companion."

So tell me why couldn't newspapers and other media organizations use the same tactics?

Today's the day to be square

Today - 3-3-09 - is a special day. For the world, it's Square Root Day - day and the month are both the square root of the last two digits of the current year. For my family, it's another trip to Ann Arbor for more chemo and a trip to Whole Foods.

All of us would have more fun celebrating Square Root Day then doing the AA dash. Since the next such day won't be here until April 4, 2016, you might as well spend the day doing things such as this:

• Get squared away with a ton of tips from Squared Away
  
• Eat a square meal on square plates. (or learn why hotels started using square plates)
  
• Square your root vegetables (Potatoes, carrots,turnips, rutabegas, etc.)
• Play a game called Square Meal
  
• Go square dancing or learn some history of square dancing
  
• Put square pegs in round holes (video)
  
• Tie a square knot.
• Visit Square Root Day on Facebook
• Or learn the 53 ways to define a square Urban Dictionary
  

The last square root day was Feb. 2, 2004, which got a California teacher excited.

Cartoonist bottled up energy to save print

I am always ready for a laugh, especially when it combines two subjects near and dear to my heart. So click on the cartoon or head over to Matt Bors' blog and see the rest of this four-panel cartoon.

See Matt Bors has come up with his "completely serious, entirely workable, fail proof plan for saving newspapers. Free papers should go this route as well. Why deny yourself the revenue stream?"

(By the way, I was led to Bors and his "print-saving solution" through a Washington Post item on "our web addiction." You'll find another cartoon there: The Fall of Rome-nesko.)

Step into the dark

Richard Nicholson highlights some of the last operating darkrooms. Remember those?

'New toy,' crowded restaurant show some do their part

Some business owners went to sleep smiling last night. One smiled thanks to Jim of L-Town, who is spending more then a few pennies for"Our new toy." Since the purchase is leading to a new blog, perhaps the fancy RV will create even more smiles.

And at Italia Gardens in Flint Township, there was a 30-minute wait for a table. I could have paid for our four dinners if every person who saw the line and said "I thought the economy was bad" or "the stimulous package is working" had to give me $1.

One last observation - my daughter says she saw mini cash registers walking out the door, not the "doggie boxes" each customer carried out. One of her chef-making TV shows had said such boxes meant the restaurant was serving portions that are too big. Or maybe, I said, folks are eating less everyday as a way of stretching the food budget.

Just a thought.

Making it: 'Maize and blue' cake, life

February is a celebration month in our household. Besides Valentine's Day and Presidents' Day, my husband and our marriage turns another year older. Every four years, the kid who rolled over in the hospital gets an official birthday. The other three years, we celebrate on the most convenient date - Feb. 28 or March 1.

This year, we celebrated the birth of the 11-pound wonder on the 28th by going out to dinner and then eating a non-organic cake she baked. Note: She also baked that maize-and-blue one - all organic ingrediants - in a new cake pan for her dad's birthday. (Yes, she's trying to eat foods not enriched by hormones or vitamins. She wanted a confetti cake so she "went off the wagon.")

She unwrapped a few gifts - more cotton thread to crochet, a few books and a new comforter. She hit the quarter of a century mark so that means she must move off her father's insurance. I'm looking forward to informing all the medical people of the third insurance switch since her cancer treatment started. (you can bet we are following the switch carefully - 1 application was already lost.)

Some friends and family members expected a bigger celebration - especially as the first set of chemo shrunk the tumors by about 9 cm. But the newly weekly chemo treatments leave her tired. Plus alcohol and crowds ate to be avoided. We want to see the doctors do another happy dance at the end of this set of chemo, so it is early to bed, late to rise and naps in-between. Plus yoga. Some days, she's making a few meals..... or baking a cake.

Impossibility of 'Hot Box' reminds ex-Journal editor how truth emerges

A former Flint Journal copy editor recalls The Hot Box  and shows how that related to where newspapers are today.

He starts the tale this way:

Years ago, in the early stages of newspapers' redesigning, I worked for a chain of eight midsize newspapers in the Midwest. Some of them looked as if it were still World War II, but in the early 1970s one of them had radically redesigned and managed to lose 10 percent of its subscribers in one week, or some figure like that. So they were going about it more cautiously.

So they had hired a designer to redo all the papers. (His name was Ralph "Chic" Bain. I have no idea what happened to him, although LinkedIn might place him in Austin.) We were Chic's third or fourth paper in a row and he had used all of his easy-to-gin-up ideas in other cities.

For our paper, he unveiled "the hot box." This was an attempt to get away from the tyranny of the three-across teaser box that then dominated newspaper design. Instead, we would have a line of type -- the equivalent of the Times Square zipper, but not moving -- at the top of the page, and then a box with a big image -- 2x2.5, about -- at the right margin, next to the flag. As with all designers, Chic selected a striking illustration for his prototype. He presented it to the top editors, and they approved it.

David worried about " our ability to come up with a striking illustration 365 days a year. I was scared that within a week this would end up being another grainy wirephoto of Jimmy Carter (we had old presses and almost no color). "

David says even Chic thought The Hot Box would be killed. See the original post for how David recalls that conversation, one with an editor who approved the plan and why this matters today. It has something to do with what journalists really believe. Let's just say the emperor wears no clothes, some editors who believe an artist is right even while doubting the the vision can be done, and journalism is doomed.

Should your spouse have your passwords?

When I saw this Facebook status:

XXX loves her husband dearly and remembers her wedding vow to LOVE and OBEY! Oh, and XXX (her husband) is ALWAYS right.

I immediately remembered the time in the newsroom when a reporter did not log off and his credit line was changed to Journal bonehead reporter. It made the newspaper because the friend assumed the reporter would catch and what copy editor looks at what is always the same.

When I later saw this status:

XXX just changed her Facebook password so her husband can't change her status. Uggh.

I remembered I wanted to ask if you give your spouse all your passwords to all of your online homes. It's not that I'm hiding anything. I just join a lot of things. Sometimes I hang around; sometimes I don't.

Not too long ago, I was showing my husband one of the sites I use when he asked if I had all my sites and passwords written down. He says he just wants to make sure he can clean up after me in case I die.

At least, we are Facebook friends so he'll be able to take of that page since Facebook changes policy on deceased users accounts

Kristen Nicole on All Facebook shared this tale:

Late last week the Consumerist wrote an article highlighting a woman who had trouble convincing Facebook to remove the profile of her deceased brother. William Bemister, the brother of Stephanie Bermister, died suddenly last November. Stephanie's case in particular brings up several important issues regarding Facebook, it's policy towards deceased users, and the way in which it deals with family members of the deceased.

Per Facebook's policy, his profile was memorialized, a process by which certain private information is removed and the page is only accessible to confirmed friends through search.

However, his sister was not a friend so she couldn't get the profile completely down even after sending in a request and copy of the death certificate.

Nicole asks:

Should Facebook have the right to decide what to do with a deceased member's account despite direct and confirmed contact with a relative?

Facebook removed William's account all together, and Nicole says Facebook responded to Nicole that it will honor such requests from family members.

Nicole wants to know how Facebook knows someone is dead; I want to know what does Facebook do if some family members want the profile up and some want it gone.

Meanwhile, Nicole suggests you

• make sure you're friends with your closest family members that also have Facebook accounts.
  
• have a plan that outlines instructions to family members and loved ones in regard to what should be done with accounts.

What are you going to do?


Related posts:

• Worry time? Husband wants my online info Published July 17, 2008
  

Facebook replacing rallies, picket lines? Citizens aim to ‘Save the Jersey Journal’

The Jersey City Independent chose to report on what's happening with the Jersey Journal, an Advance Publication facing closure by focusing on a community effort happening on Facebook.

A 36-year-old journalist started the Save the Jersey Journal” group on Facebook "just a week after the Evening Journal Association, which publishes the tabloid daily, announced an April 13 expiration date for the 142-year-old paper if its revenue was not sufficient to support a “reduced expense plan.” "

Just one more Facebook group among zillions, today's replacement for petitions and picket lines. I've got The Path to Pink, and Feel Your Boobies for breast cancer; closer to home Support downtown Flint neighborhoods. and in a way, close to home: Don't Let Newspapers Die and Stop Outsourcing US Jobs - Support American jobs . There's Save GM and Support The UAW and so many more. (Am I really stopping global warning with each plant in Green Patch?)

Kate Kaye told Jon Whiten, the article's author, why she started the Facebook group:

"I decided it was the very least I could do to show the publishers that people care.

I realize to many this seems like a futile effort, and as one who has covered the online newspaper sector for years as a business reporter, I’m well aware of the reality — and cynicism — print papers face.

But I’m also someone who recognizes the value of having a daily print publication for any city for historical, cultural, communal, political, and utilitarian purposes.””

By the time of Whiten's article, the group collected 124 members.

The group's purpose:

"This group has been created to foster ideas to help save The Jersey Journal , the only daily paper covering Jersey City, New Jersey's second largest city, and the county seat of Hudson County. The paper has served Jersey City for over 140 years. It survived the Great Depression. Let's not let it die now, especially in a year when a tight mayoral election race is heating up."

There's advice there that the best way to save the newspaper is to subscribe.

You'll also find a post suggesting folks sign a petition (not that petitions do much to get businesses to change their ways when they are failing.)

Whiten, who has freelanced for the newspaper, said includes information about fewer editorial employees, including management's hope that four to six of the about 13 remaining newsroom staffers to leave voluntarily (down from about 60 in 1972.) and a request to the Newspaper Guild to let the growing number of interns stay longer then nine months.

Whiten also writes about how overall coverage is going, the newspaper's Internet presence, why the local government won't save the press and why some don't read the printed newspaper.


Related posts - Advance Publications:

• Advance newspapers get warning of closure
• Flint Journal sister paper to hire Local News Service
• Nothing new in news business

Related posts - Facebook:

• Facebook's 25 Things gets noticed by Time, NYT; gi.ves me some attention
• Graphing Social Patterns: The Business

Fighting (again) wastes time

My doctor fought and won - I can keep taking the medicine that has helped me fight fatigue for five years.

He called my insurance company numerous times (and didn't bill for the time.) He gave me samples to keep me going for the six weeks of rejection.There is no generic substitute. There is no alternative, including the insurance company's advice to take more naps.

I already try to fight MS fatigue by using my energy wisely. I nap. I sleep. I exercise.

I wonder how much money is wasted each time a doctor who prescribes a rejected medicine fights. There's paperwork, phone calls, research - all done by humans.

I don't think changing the pill top label to use less ink or dropping the label completely will ever save enough to make up for the firm's questioning of the accredited doctor's judgement.

If he prescribed it, he thinks it should be filled - especially if it is a refill.

Another paper wants to try charging

Reuters reported today that Cablevision Systems Corp (CVC.N) plans to charge online readers of its Newsday newspaper. The agency said the move that would make it one of the first large U.S. papers to reverse a trend.

A Newsday rep wasn't immediately available to elaborate on the paper's web plans. Cablevision chief operating officer Tom Rutledge made no-more-free-content remark during a call with analysts.

"Our goal was and is to use our electronic network assets and subscriber relationships to transform the way news is distributed," he said on a conference call with analysts.

"We plan to end the distribution of free Web content," he added.

That should make L. Gordon Crovitz, the columnist with the Wall Street Journal who recently wrote that "information wants to be expensive."

Personally, I liked Mark Ingram's take on the column: "WSJ: We charge, so why don't you."

Simple drawing a good predictor

Is this bag lying down or standing up? Or can you see it both ways?

Some days I can flip the bag drawn by one of my doctors. Some days I can only see inside the bag one way.

The one-way day is not a good day for me to go looking for Waldo, finding the "magic picture" hidden in scribbles or picturing what the completed quilt or necklace will look like.

Real-life story problem boggles minds

My daughter's newest prescription came with the pharmacy's explanation and five more letter-size sheets of instructions. The cautions are frightening. So was figuring out when to take it with her other drugs.

It boils down to one drug must be taken 30 minutes before eating, the new one two hours after that one amd the other one at least an hour later.

She and I both graduated from college and are good readers. It took several readings, an Internet search and a call before it was all sorted out.

Keep your fingers crossed that this new drug wipes out her infection. I am not sure either of us is up for the next round.

Give up Facebook for Lent?

Today's the first day of Lent. For many Christians, it also is the first day they give up something to make a sacrifice in preparation for Easter.

Giving up Facebook for 40 days , as one friend plans to do, seems over the top. I'm sure she'd be shocked to find out how trendy giving up social media networking for Lent is.

Twitter talk about Lent was such a popular topic, it consistently was listed as a hot topic on the search page. Twitter also led me back to Facebook.

alexcrabb: Just talking with E about - Facebook should have a Lent application: see what your friends give up.

Alexcrabb included a link to How to give up Facebook for Lent and keep your friends.

That included mention of a Wall Street Journal article on Lent that referenced a Giving Up Facebook for Lent group. (By the way, there are more then 500 Facebook groups with Lent in the title, including 94 that have the words giving up Facebook for Lent in the title.)

Then, I decided to check my RSS reader. Some folks are giving up and giving: Dave Harte, who is giving up Twitter pledges a donation to a group helping homeless youth for each day he stays off Twitter. He'll double the donation for any day he goes on Twitter.

I regularly give up Facebook, Twitter and other social media when other activities call so dropping social media would not be much of a sacrifice for me.

On the Levite Chronicles, Jon Swanson describes fasting as "giving up unhealthy dependence on stuff." It is part of a post on "Deliberate Silence," a choice the blogger can make in a world filled with noise from family, friends, advertisers and more.

"But at 6:30am on Ash Wednesday, in a quiet house, I can choose to be silent, or not. I can choose to have noise, or not. I can decide to look at the stream of images and words, or not.

I can decide whether there is an unhealthy dependence, or not."

Once I finish that, I started thinking that maybe the sacrifice I should make is giving up making these Internet connections.

Night Blind: Latitude Loyalty

Night Blind: Latitude Loyalty and my Grandma In Compton, 1960

Isn't 'latitude loyalty' a wonderful way to describe the worry you stayed too long and the town is no longer home, sweet, home?

That the town is Flint, Michigan, makes the question even more bittersweet.

The good news is the Internet makes the world smaller every day.

Grandpa's advice: Don't be a key turner

Today would have been my grandfather's birthday. And though he's been dead a number of years, I think about him everyday - or at least every time I drive a car or open a locked door.

He was always free with advice and he often reminded his grandchildren to "not be a key turner."

My grandfather lived on the same street for most of the years I was growing up. He did his best to make sure I wasn't a key turner.

A key turner is a person who knows how to jump in the car, turn the key and go. A key turner does not know what to do when the oil light flashes, how to fill a gas tank, change a tire or what transmission fluid smells like. A key turner would never look at the drippings in the driveway and conclude something might be leaking.

You can bet I knew a lot about what was under the hood of my car when I first began driving. I knew that turning a key was just a tiny part of the process of making a car go from one place to another. I knew that knowledge and maintenance contributes to successful driving.

That key-turning business applies to more then cars, of course.

It applies to all things mechanical. I knew how to oil my sewing machine and keep my bike running. He made sure I could do minor repairs and maintenance on the washer, dryer, dishwasher, stove and lawnmower

The key-turner philosophy also applies to a person individually. It is up to you to know as much about you as possible and become your best advocate.

Just like your driving habits may mean your car never gets the miles per hour promised on a sticker label , your multiple sclerosis may differ from your neigbhor's MS. You may never need a wheelchair, you might need one a year after you are diagnosed. You may be able to keep working when someone else can't. You might only read, not experience, the Lhermitte's Sign's flash of electricity along your back..

Remembering that "your mileage may vary" helps me speak up when a doctor tries to prescribe a drug I know won't chase an infection away even if "it works for everyone else."

Being everybody else never was a goal in my family.

Jobs for journalists via RSS

Blogger and former full-time, paid journalist Charles Apple wrote about
A new RSS feed for journalism job seeker, created by VizEds founder Robb Montgomery

Robb writes:

I know it is a bad time to be looking for a job and even more frustrating not to be able to quickly find suitable ones.

Cheer up my displaced colleagues. Help is here.

In his downtime, Robb has created a new RSS feed. He’s calling it Media Professionals.

Media Professionals is a hyper-aggregated, algorithm-fueled, jobs feed Twitter-widget mashup with a Plaxo group for backup support.

Robb also is using this to feed his Digital Jobs widget on Facebook.

Related posts:

• Beyond the buyout, beyond the bylines for journalists
• Talent will outlast jobs, careers
• It hurts to laugh; it helps to prepare

(I am on Plaxo and Facebook and Twitter if you want to connect there. Oh heck, LinkedIn too.)

Girl Scout cookies save a life

A story I thought you might enjoy. And if that made you hungry for your own Girl Scout cookies, visit this web site to learn how to get yours.

A favorite 'holiday' for this Girl Scout

Today is a Girl Scout holiday and it's the one I love best.

Online friends made years before Bebo, MySpace and FaceBook helped me learn more about being a sister to every Girl Scout and Girl Guide in about 150 countries.

Those same online friends help make the celebration of today special. Feb. 22 is World Thinking Day, a day to think about Girl Scouts and Girl Guides around the world. Although the day was created in 1926 at the fourth Girl Guide/Girl Scout International Conference in New York, I don't remember celebrating it much as a girl Girl Scout.

I hope that the Girl Scouts I volunteered for in the 1990s and early 2000s remember what we did. They have the patches like the ones in this post to serve as reminders of some of the events created by WAGGGS-L, an email list that continues today.

WAGGGS-L once was the biggest Girl Scout/Girl Guide list. The text-only list was a way for many English-speaking adults involved with Girl Guides and Girl Scouts to exchange ideas. It was a busy list and, like many lists, some questions came up over and over. That led to one of the first hosts of the lists creating a Thinking Day resource to help Girl Scouts and Girl Guides with activities. The host wrote:

"Especially in the United States, Thinking Day is celebrated with internationally-themed events, and troops often pick this time of year to learn about cultures from other nations and Scouting or Guiding in other countries. "

The resource was "prepared in an attempt to limit the posts to WAGGGS-L that request information about other countries."

We also started creating our own ways of marking Girl Scout/Girl Guide occasions.

I think 1997 was the first time the girls in my troop used IRC (Internet Relay Chat) to talk with girls involved with the Girl Scout/Guide movement. That was at my house.

In other years, the Flint Public Library and the Genesee District Library opened their computer labs to give girls in what was Girl Scouts Fair Winds Council a chance to participate.

Another year, our troop went about 25 miles to partner with another Cadette Girl Scout troop to host a Thinking Day event at a school. Of course, one station was devoted to participating in the chat.

My troop would help girls from other troops communicate on the chat services. And by chat - remember this was in the late 1990s - I mean the girls showed others how to type in their words and choose and send simple icons.

I'll never forget the Brownie Girl Scout who started crying after finishing a chat with a Brownie in London. A Girl Scout volunteer showed her Flint, Michigan, and London on a map in one of the many reference books the libraries provided. The girl cried because she knew she couldn't swim that far and would never meet her new friend.

I also loved watching as the girls learned that how time worked - that it might be lunchtime here but time for dinner elsewhere. Maybe a day earlier or even a day later. The girls loved sleepovers on Thinking Day so that they could talk with girls from other countries throughout the night.

Several years, we exchanged postcards with other troops. Each troop would send a postcard from their area and write about favorite activities. One year, we exchanged cards only with troops with girls the same age.

The majority of troops lived in the United States, so when an exchange between international troops could be arranged that was a bonus. Now, some countries post official postcards online.

The exchange continues and this year 3,196 US Troops and 861 international units from 52 countries participated.

• 2008: 2,961 US Troops, 1,057 International Units from 49 countries
• 2007: 3,145 US Troops and 675 International Units from 43 countries
• 2006: 2,458 US Troops and 445 International Units from 38 countries
  
• 2005,: 2,399 US Troops and 438 International Units from 29 countries
  
• 2004: 2,443 US Troops and 422 International Units from 31 countries
  
• 2003: 1,,734 US Troops and 487 International Units from 28 countries
• 2002: 2,214 US Troops and 428 International Units from 34 countries
  
• 2001, 1,200 US troops; 175 International units from 22 countries
  
• 2000, 795 US troops; 127 International units from 21 countries
  
• Also held in 1998 and 1999, but no statistical data
  

The Feb. 22 date was chosen because it was the birthday of Lord Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scout Movement, and his wife Olave, who served as World Chief Guide.

So it's not surprising that the idea of birthday gifts would be added to the celebration. At the 7^th World Conference in 1932, a delegate suggested girls could contribute to the World Association. Olave wrote to all Girl Guides and Girl Scouts after this idea was adopted asking them to help support the Movement by donating just a penny per girl . The money helps spread the Movement.

One year, we based our donation on the number of post cards received by a particular date. Another year, it was a penny per every inch of girl's height.

Like many things in the Girl Scout Movement, service sweetens the activity. WAGGGS-L members used the theme of Service in Blooming in 1998. Girls participated in activities such as fashion shows featuring Girl Scout uniforms to spark shared memories at nursing homes; creation of centerpieces for shut-ins and sharing of international fairy tales at library story hours.

The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, the official center of Thinking Day activities for all Girl Scouts and Girl Guides, sets a different theme each year. For instance, this year the theme is girls worldwide say “Stop the spread of AIDS, malaria and other diseases”. The topic links to the Millennium Development Goal 6: ‘Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases’ and WAGGGS’ Global Action Theme.

Important work and a reminder that each of us has a role to play.

As the Old Goat said in one of the many virtual greetings that spread this year:

"I am a link in the Golden Chain of World Friendship.
I will keep my link strong and bright."

(And I pass my candle to my right. We have already sung "The World Song." We will sing "One Little Candle", "Oh, Beautiful Banner", and then "Taps.")

I'm off to get my place in the cirlce. Have a Happy Thinking Day!

My house became a home 26 years ago today

Enough boxes had been unpacked. Enough furniture was bartered, begged and bought to fill at least some of the space in the two-story pink house. Enough money was saved up to buy food and drink for invited guests and to host a grown-up party.

It was time for a party to celebrate my purchase of my very own house, to celebrate my independence and willingness to live on my own unafraid of stalkers, to celebrate my decision to stay in Flint, Michigan, for at least five more years.

Three months earlier, I found a house I could divide and sublet to help cover the monthly mortgage. It was within walking distance of my employer in a neighborhood I already had spent nearly four years in. Friends, museums and music were nearby.

In 1982, few single women bought houses in Flint, Michigan. But I was determined to invest in the city and listen to my grandfather who preached that renting was like throwing your money in the garbage and move on with the lifestyle I chose. Only a year earlier, I acknowledged it would be a bigger mistake to continue a six-year marriage and divorced the man I fell for during the dreamlike days of college. We had already spent three of those years living apart; it was time to sever the last ties.

It took a year to recover emotionally and financially from the official action of separation. But I was ready and started looking for the right house.

I checked the house closely with a friend who knew a lot about electricity, plumbing and carpentry. I looked over the city inspection records (and later learned why it's important to check the relationship of the inspector and property owner). I reviewed property assessment records to make sure I offered a fair price.

With the help of a last-minute loan to pay unexpected costs, I signed the papers that tied me to real estate payments for 30 years. With the help of a few friends and family, I moved in shortly before Christmas.

The next weeks were spent removing features I hated - gold wallpaper with black flocking, for instance, - and getting things comfortable.

I was also getting comfortable with something unusual - a steady relationship with one man. In fact, since I left one date to go on one with this guy in early December I'd spent at least part of every day with him. That was unusual for a woman who dated many or none since moving out in 1979 and divorcing in 1981.

Still marriage was not on my mind - been there, done that.

I picked the date for the open house, ready to celebrate my independence with family and friends. The invites were out, RSVPs started coming back, and I was ready to share my new home with all.

I don't remember the exact date this new guy and I started talking about the possibility of a more permanent relationship. We kept talking, meeting each other's families, talking, exploring and talking.

Then one day, we slipped from someday to now. In fact, we decided let's get married and tell everyone when they come to the open house. It would be a simple exchange of wedding vows followed by an already planned celebration.

In a moment of sanity, we told our parents, brothers and sisters. Suddenly, the plans expanded to include a wedding day breakfast following the ceremony in our living room. The 30 or so members of our immediate family from the Detroit area, Ohio and Flint-area communities wanted to witness the marriage.

The wedding was a surprise to most friends who came to the open house. Many said they were not surprised we had tied the knot, just that we would do so after knowing each other less then four months.

The weather was another surprise that day - warm enough that people did not need a jacket to stand outside on the porch. Somehow, a spring day snuck into a Michigan winter.

Another surprise was the birth of our Leap Day baby a year later.

Surprises continue to come into our lives. But I wasn't surprised that roses came today with a note that says "the honeymoon isn't over yet."

Neither is the making of our home together.

Caught my eye: Police blotters

Could ex-journalists who once covered the crime beat make money with their own online crime report? It's an idea Jim of L-Town and some other mid-Michigan boughtout journalists explored and rejected.

I think that's why this paragraph jumped out in the Baltimore Police Blotter turns 30 article:

"What is suprising to me is that the while newspapers shed features once thought sacrosanct, such as stock tables, the blotter remains one of the most popular items in both print and web formats. People complain when it's not in the paper, and the words "police blotter" are among the most searched for terms on our Internet site."

The writer, Peter Hermann, noted:

"Few newspapers have blotters anymore -- the New York Post still does -- and even fewer send reporters out to station houses to compile crime. Such lists typically come from headquarters, and are usually sanitized and contain only the most serious incidents, the incidents that command cares about and thinks everyone else cares about as well.

Community and neighborhood newspapers publish blotters. The one in the Baltimore Guide is very popular among residents, and I thought it was great timing when this week the New York Times wrote a brief sketch of a reporter for the Brooklyn Paper who still walks to the 94th Precinct in Greenpoint to compile a weekly blotter. The headline: "The Dying Art of the Crime Blotter."

I know that one of the first questions I want to know when my husband returns from his monthly board meeting for the neighborhood is what's interesting from the police log.

Sure, the Grand Blanc News and the Grand Blanc View post some police items. The Flint Journal will print the big crime news - a fatal accident, a possible murder.

But unless you know the officers and the meaning behind what's written in the police log, you don't get items like ones featured in Offbeat.

Unless you know the area, you can't spot a trend by neighborhood.

Unless you know the courts, you won't suspect the neighborhood crime spree ended because someone is back in jail.

I'd rather have a person involved with the reporting, but I'd settle for something like Everyblock - a news feed for your neighborhood. So far, Everyblock is limited to

• Boston
• Charlotte
• Chicago
• Los Angeles
• Miami
• New York
• Philadelphia
• San Francisco
• San Jose
• Seattle
• Washington, DC

The grant funding the program is ending soon and the idea of the parent company of the Journal's internet site picking up Everyblock is floating around the Internet. Founder Adrian Holovaty wrote about the program's future, prompting Metaprinter to suggest:

1) Gannett or Advance Publications buys the services of the entire EveryBlock team to incorporate EveryBlock into their news sites. Most importantly the team is tasked with creating logical, simple, cheap ad placement on news sites.

Doubt it would happen - even MetaPrinter gives seven more ideas. But it would help make the web sites go-to news sites.)

Inside view: AF1: A novice's account

The first flight captured

I could have written these words about Air Force 1:

"AF1 was something I'd romanticized since childhood, a symbol of motion, internationalism and national pride and power that transcends whichever plane – or president – is in action at the time.

There was a time when I was sure I wanted to be on that plane as a press reporter, wanted to be on the bus on the presidential campaign trail, wanted to be inside the White House and sharing what I had learned in print.

But my earlier dreams of covering the president of the United States or any politician have been replaced with newer dreams. Still it was fun to read what it was like Feb. 5 aboard Air Force 1 on President Obama's first official flight.

The post, AF1: A novice's account, on Planet Washington, a McClatchy blog opens:

After a year and a half of dragging my laptop and bags on and off of candidate Barack Obama's campaign buses and planes, I wondered if my first trip on Air Force One might feel sort of ho-hum.

The adrenaline kicked in as I drove from downtown Washington into Maryland last Thursday afternoon, cleared the gate at Andrews Air Force Base, went through the Secret Service security sweep and got a special ID tag to wear on my lanyard.
Ahead, I saw a gleaming 747, white with a sky-blue stripe and the words "United States of America" down its length and an American flag painted on the tail."

XXXwas the traveling print pool reporter for half-hour flight each way,to Williamsburg, Va. She wrote five reports that night, so didn't get much time to see much or eat much. Obama did come back to the press area, something the "regulars" said was unusual. But I suggest go read the entry to get more details of the inside.

The post gives details such as this:

The pool serves as the eyes and ears when there isn't room for the full press corps. The White House travel- and in-town pools, with representatives for wire services, networks, news magazines, radio, photography and print, are determined on a rotating basis, and news organizations pay their way.

Just don't expect to find easily who wrote the piece . Guess you are supposed to be a Washington insider to know that.

If you want some more details, including some "historical" info on the first flights of other presidents then check Mark Smith's piece.

What would you tell a college student today? Michigan State seeking talking alumni

Yesterday I was invited to join the annual Michigan State University Student Alumni Networking Luncheon to talk with current students how attending MSU has benefited me in my professional career.

I know what I learned at Michigan State University - in class and out - contributed immensely to my career. I still believe in the journalism program. But there's no way I could tell a student to expect to follow a career path like mine.

Jane Briggs-Bunting, dean of the journalism school, says today's "college students will be tomorrow’s innovators and leaders in reinventing the news business."

The school's web site continues:

"Storytelling is now done in a variety of formats using text, photos, video, sound slides, hyperlinks, graphics, maps, databases and more. Deadlines are 24/7, 365 days of the year. J-School students are learning the skills needed to thrive in this warp speed news environment. We call it Journalism 3.0."

So let's see - text and photos would have been on the list when I went to MSU. Storytelling, too.

So if I could go to the lunch, I would share this advice with students:

• Keep learning. When I started, computers filled rooms, not pockets. Phones were attached by wires within something solid - a phone booth, a house or a business. Publishing a book required a printing press, not just determination, skill and knowledge. We don't know what others are creating and what tools will become available so it is important to find a way to learn what's happening outside the newsroom and your closest community.
  

• Be flexible. There's no way to know where you will end up because the jobs you may do may not be invented yet.
  

• Love telling stories. There are all types of stories to be told. Some hide in data. Some hide in process. Some hide in people. Storytellers enjoy drawing out the pieces, making the connections and replacing their findings with a tale others can remember.
  

By the way if you need another reason to go you can hear MSU gaduate Bob Fish, CEO of Biggby Coffee, speak. (His first store was in East Lansing, earned his degree from MSU in 1989.)

The event is open to all Michigan State alumni:

When: Saturday, February 28, 2009, 12 p.m. doors open
Where: Spartan Club in Spartan Stadium Tower
Guest Speaker: Bob Fish, CEO & Co-Founder Biggby Coffee
Price: No cost for Michigan State Alumni

Interested? You can register online.

Nothing new in news business

A search on Google last night reminded me there isn't anything new in the news business.

A comment in the Rent-A-Journalist post over on Free From Editors sent me searching for more on Dorf Feature Services. Like, what does Dorf mean?

That led to a sidetrack on news reporting services because mantra said there are 483 such services in the United States. I checked out some of the 14 with Michigan ties. (At least one is extinct, the Press Row Sports hasn't written anything for a few months and Associated Press bureaus counted for 4 services, confirming one of my Anonymous commenters that the Rent-A-Journalist idea is like a wire service).

That led to another sidetrack - in 1911, the news was delivered by telephone for $18 a year. Yes, folks could call the Telephone Herald. Check it out. (and to think some thought audiotext was new)

Oh, and Dorf? It was named by the founder based on his name. Sid Dorfman took over the news syndication firm he was working for in 1938 and renamed it a year later. By the way, the link will take you to a 2006 New Jersey Jewish News story, where I learned the agency supplied "life cycle stories" like weddings, obituaries to area newspapers. And, in 2006, he had 50 full-time and 40 part-time employees.

He had started as a correspondent for a Newark, New Jersey three years earlier. He's still writing a sports column for the Star-Ledger - see NJ Sports. NJ.com has a photo gallery with 19 photos of Sid, including a Dorf press pass from 1938.

Yes, the more I learned about Dorfman, the more I learned just how long NJ's Star-Ledger has arranged for content via agencies. For instance, read this memory of the first SL byline.

I even found a copy of a 2007 article the Dorf Feature Service buying out some employees.

Enough. I've got a Google request from my daughter. Let's see where that goes.

Flint Journal sister paper to hire Local News Service to supplement Coverage

A sister newspaper of The Flint Journal -- Star-Ledger in New Jersey -- will hire a local news agency - founded by a bought-out journalist - to cover news once covered by staff journalists. Here's a link to 'Star-Ledger' to Use Local News Service to Supplement Coverage in trade magazine Editor & Publisher.

Kind of eerie to come home to this in my rss reader as one of the 5:30 a.m. today conversations with my daughter today was getting serious about formalizing my business plans.

One of the proposals we talked about today on the ride to her chemo treatment (2nd of next set of 12, or 6th of 16 total) was Rent-A-Journalist.

My theory is that with severe cutbacks, the flu or a natural disaster - heck, maybe even vacations and 'big' events like election night - could leave a newsroom aching for a way to hire temp journalists. The journalists would be the bought-out or retired ones with some fire in their bellies. Rent-A-Journalist would be the go-between, charging newspapers for developing and covering beats.

I think it would work. It was just surprising to read this tonight:

Just months after losing more than 150 newsroom staffers in a hard-hitting buyout, The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J. is poised to replace some of the departed by contracting with a new outside news service.

Former Star-Ledger Managing Editor Rick Everett is hiring about 30 reporters, and some college students, for an outside news service that is to provide local and municipal coverage of New Jersey to the paper.

The New Jersey paper hires a similar firm to cover some sports so there is a history.

And, as others in the Advance Publication company know - if it plays in New Jersey there's a chance you'll see it play in Michigan, Oregon, Alabama, etc.

I'm mulling over some other ideas as I am not sure I want to jump back in the news world. But this hiring piece is worth followi g. E&P article - link above - has more.

Dropsies and dogs do not mix

My bedroom got an unscheduled sweeping tonight as the household went in search of the needle piece of my Copaxone shot.

The panic started when my husband got back from his mother's house and spotted a chewed partial syringe on the sofa. That syringe was missing the plunger and the cap with a needle. Let's see, 3 dogs, 1 shot - how many x-rays?

My daughter had returned earlier and was bringing me up-to-date on family news and, of course, the dogs followed her in. I was intent on keeping them out of my wastebasket because I had thrown forbidden items such as used Kleenex and candy wrappers in (one dog will shred, one will eat). I should have remembered that I had dropped the needle earlier and LEFT IT ON THE FLOOR!!!

See, a migrane has kept me in darkness in bed most of the day. I figured bending over - Ouch - could wait until morning. I was wrong.

The family searched, finding pieces but not the actual needle. My husband and daughter were unwilling to take their shoes off during the search. I grabbed a broom as guilt was trumping the allergy to dust (besides, the room had been swept just a few days ago.) My daughter soon joined me. Oh my, the things I found. Lost socks. Dust bunnies. 1 dust-covered slipper. And to the surprise of no one - beads.

In the midst of this treasure hunt in the bedroom, my husband found the needle. After my daughter checked that all pieces were found, she returned to finish sweeping. That led to a conversation reminding me that dogs are like babies, only dogs can't tell you where they hurt. (No, I didn't ruin her rant by telling her babies don't tell you either. Time enough for that.)

She also shared that she had been puzzled by the fact that one of her two dogs had left while we were talking but the other one had been coming in and out the whole time. Now she realized the one was looking for his needle treat - her two dogs always get two of everything.

Me? I realize I need to stick to the rule of no dogs in the bedroom. (Although if you ever heard the three dogs barking/howling/whining you would understand why sometimes I dream of no dogs in the house.)

Oh well, at least I got the Copaxone in before I flipped the needle to the floor. I hate wasting medicine - especially at $30 or so a pop.

And the cleaning service? He comes with fringe benefits and, if asked, I could serve in Mr. President's administration.

Happy Valentine's Day

Isn't this perfect for a journalist?
You'll find many appropriate gifts over on 10,000 Words.

Wired: Too much Martha makes me miss Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion

Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion magazine folded and "they" decided to replace my subscription with one to Martha Stewart Living.

Within two weeks, three editions popped up in my mailbox. January, February and March.

I would rather have Mary. But if that wasnt possibe I would rather have a choice - let me choose the magazine.

But if that wasn't possible I would rather get the magazines over a longer period. I don't need three so quickly.

At least I didn't have a subscription to Martha's.

See I know the customer loses when subscription records merge.

I've been a Wired subscriber since day one.I also like to save money so I bought multi-year subscriptions.

Unfortunately, I also subscribed to other tech magazines, which graciously 'gave' me Wired subscriptions when they folded. Soon, it became a joke that my subscription would outlive me as the magazines folded and my subscription extended.

Unfortunately, I lost track somewhere and missed when a replaced subscription suddenly became my "real" subscription.

By the time I noticed the switch - prompted by a request to pay for an extension - records had blurred. I tried to get records fixed and then gave up.

I'll just read what I want online, picking up a print magazine for the few times I know wired access is unavailable

Talent will outlast jobs, careers

I saw this banner ad - Jobs become obsolete. Talent doesn't - when cruising the 'net and wish I could post it on the computer of every print journalist I know - especially those who are working now but don't know how long their jobs will last.

Folks become journalists for a lot of different reasons, but some common ones are a love for a writing or storytelling, a need to know, and a knack for backing complex things simple.

Folks can stay a journalist or use those skills today. It just takes extra effort.

Former journalist Scott Hepburn shares some ideas to help in A Journalist's Survival Guide. Let me share some of his steps:

Hang Your Shingle and Start Building an Audience

He suggests that every reporter should blog - on their own. He points to Chris Brogan’s “If I Started Today” post as a guide. And Chris has good advice in the post about blogging - buy your own domain, decide on a type (personal brand, something for consumers or one featuring stories and photos of causes you support) but I recommend Brogan's post on My Best Advice on Blogging. It's actually a list and links to 11 other posts, all worth reading.

I also suggest you start reading Pro Blogger. (A post I bookmarked recently is Creating a Blog Plan. One of the most bookmarked-posts of ProBlogger in delicious was 31 days to Building A Better Blog, which is a list of links to 31 posts.

If you want one post on getting started with a blog, start with Mindy McAdams Start a Blog.

If you want to see how one journalist executes a blog on a subject he knows, read this piece from NewsPay on Tom Mangan, who created the Cat Stock Blog. The blog is about Caterpillar Inc., the world's largest manufacturer of engines, earthmovers and mining equipment.

Bill Mitchell's post on How to Make Your Blog a Paying Business looks at Mangan's effort in detail. Mangan, who is still a copy editor and page designer at the Mercury News, works on the blog daily.

Diversify Your Offerings

You're not likely to get by doing one thing anymore. Flint Journal columnist Andrew Heller is a perfect example of this - he's got his newspaper column, supercharging that with blogging, a radio show (weekday mornings from 7-9 on WFNT-AM (1470), and he self-published his own books after The Journal got out of the book business. He taught journalism at the local community college. He makes speeches in the community and he works hard at learning new things.

On LinkedIn, he describes himself this way:

"Columnist, blogger, talk show host, publisher, communications consultant."

He's following advice Scott shares:

You can't do one thing anymore. You have to hedge your bets. Sure, be a journalist, but be a news reporter AND a columnist/blogger. Do some PR work, too. And freelance writing. And…whatever. You’ll need multiple income streams to survive in a decentralized information economy.

Diversity will count as making money just blogging is hard. Did you read "Hanging Up the Pajamas?" (Susan Mernit pointed me to this "priceless" update.)

Get Closer to the Cutting Edge

Scott suggests you have to "dabble with new stuff," hardware, software, websites. Like others, he suggests you…play around.

One of the commenters on Scott's post started a blog as a way of answering some of the questions she kept getting about new media. Erin even has a list of The Best of Me Media to help you get started. Her "Social Media for non-Techies" blog is easy to read.

Still working in the newspaper business is Gina Chen, the blogging mom who also writes Save the Media. Her series on reinventing journalism is worth a read. Then, follow her advice. If a working mom can find time, almost everyone can.

One of the best resources is Wired Journalists. As the tag there says

"You're a journalist who wants to build your skills, serve your community, and advance your career. We're here to help."

On Feb. 8, 3,269 folks are signed up as members on the network. You'll find tutorials, advice, blog posts, videos - lots to help figure out the future.

Go forth and multiply those opportunities.

Related posts:

• It hurts to laugh; it helps to prepare
  
• Beyond the buyout, beyond the bylines for journalists
• Journalists not first to start over
  
• Buyout journalists, remember this ...
• What every good journalist needs to do, but won't

Ideas on how to change journalism? Then get to Chicago, 2.21.09

Got an idea about what to do about journalism? Ready to move the conversation away from the coffeepot or bar or blog?

There's a series of sessions - barcamps/unconferences across the nation - where your ideas about innovations for news are front and center.

We Media Guru shares some of his enthusiasm, hoping to hear more about connecting technology at BarCamp NewsInnovation Chicago on Saturday, Feb. 21 at Northwestern University's Medill Graduate School of Journalism newsroom at 210 S. Clark St., in downtown Chicago. Register now to take part The Media Guru thanks Northwestern University, the Medill School of Journalism, Rich Gordon and Beatrice Figueroa for their help in making this event happen.

Here's an explanation from the site:

Join this group for a one-day un-conference to experience the creativity and energy that occurs when technologist, programmers, web developers, designers, hackers and information architects teams to do cool stuff with journalists, entrepreneurs, tech business dudes, students, professors and others with interest in news and information.

This ad hoc event will be a place to not only talk about how technology is influencing journalism, but participants will be given the opportunity to brainstorm an idea and hack it out by the end of the afternoon.

Don't go expecting to return home with a bag of goodies.

Do go willing to share and build on the ideas of others.

It is our turn. Leave the suits at home.

Finding Michigan peeps on Twitter

Are you from Michigan? Do you tweet? Introduce yourself here You will find names of other folks from Michigan on the list.

After you fill in your Twitter name, you are asked to send out a Tweet.

PS Find me at http://twitter.com/mcwflint

Thanks to motownmutt and shawnsmith for the headsup