A deadline might work

Send in the fail whale! The first headline was "perfection or OCD" because I am not sure which prevents me from hitting the publish button here. My New Year challenge was to keep the number of published posts higher then the unpubublished ones. Oops!

I even started a number of posts early, knowing this week would be hectic. I spent several hours polishing yesterday. And yet, you see nothing got published.

I know I have a tendency to want perfection. And that darn Internet distracts so :-) For instance, a simple book review leads to some interesting info about the author which leads to a search ... Or a post inspired by a pep talk for journalists post is "balanced" (influenced by a Twitter) by a look at who else lost newspaper jobs which led to a search for a photo from my early jobs ...

And there you are - I added 3 more posts to the 300 plus waiting editing.

Maybe I do need a deadline. I know unpublished posts were not a problem when I was blogging about that popular American Idol show.
(Oh wait, that involved a paycheck)

I'll do better, I promise myself. I like not working holidays. I like not watching American Idol. I like not attending meetings.

.

A set of thanks due to bye-out (buyout)

What a shame - a buyout offer too good to pass up means journalists of all ages lose the chance to learn from a leader who blogged about the pharmacy industry. And even in leaving, Ed Silverman leaves an example worth following.

I might have missed Ed Silverman's'goodbye', if not for David Cohn, who shared via Google Reader a Beatblogging tribute tagged with this:

“Total bummer. Ed is a good guy and a great blogger.”

Cohn could have added that Silverman was a great beat reporter of the old-fashioned kind. Heck, I think even Jim of L-Town of Free From Editors would have liked him.

In one "exit interview" Silverman shares that his favorite post was about the Pfizer exec who took helicopter rides to and from work.

"It was a “gotcha” moment. It was an old-fashioned journalism gotcha moment. I plead guilty to enjoying that once in a while. And also because it seemed to strike a nerve. Thousands of people found that post and read it for days on end."

I've followed Ed for about a decade - partly due to my interest in medicine and these super-expensive drugs under development for treating multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's and other diseases. Ed's reporting - shared online at http://nj.com and then in the blog taught me a lot about the pharmaceutical industry.

I guarantee you I was jealous when he got a standalone site and his own URL - http://www.pharmalot.com - something that didn't happen with many Newhouse newspapers.

But I loved learning from Silverman, watching him take on new challenges.

"Three years ago, I suggested a site that could somehow become a go-to destination for news and discussion concerning the pharmaceutical industry. As someone who had covered pharma for a decade, but was itching to do something different, a web site represented not only a next step in gathering and disseminating information, but also an opportunity to get ahead of the curve and move on to another stage in my career."

His hard work paid off with page views and a community.

Patrick Thornton had this to say in the Beat Blogging post:

"Ed Silverman was one of the original beat bloggers.


He was a shining beacon of how to do the practice right. He doggedly reported his beat, often putting in 12+ hour days. And be built from scratch an online juggernaut that won awards, brought in lots of visitors and fomented fantastic discussions about the pharmaceutical industry."

Indeed, anyone who has followed Beat Blogging knows how often Ed Silverman and the blog on the pharmacy industry was praised.

His leaving drew praise in a number of places online, even noted on the Wall Street Journal site in its Health Blog.

I also liked how he pushed to keep learning. You knew from what you read in the blog that he was putting in way more then the expected work day. He kept trying new things, jumping into the beat blogging about a year earlier. The blog effort expanded into Facebook and Twitter. Video, of course - check out the farewell post.

I especially liked that he ends his stay by remembering that his online venture happened because of people I also respect - Jim Willse, John Hassell and Hassan Hodges (Hassell and Hodges also have left the Newhouse newspaper in New Jersey, Hassell moving over to Advance Internet and Hodges moving onto the New York Times. Updated: May 2009, he moved to the Annarbor.com effort.)

It's a sign of the person Ed is that he also recognized the sacrifices made by his wife and kids so that his blog and career could grow.

Oh, and one last thing - he shares lessons learned in a podcast over on Beat blogging.

The interview, as it says on Beat Blogging includes this:

• The reasons why Silverman thought it was time to move on.
  
• Silverman’s role as an aggregator and how it made him more of an editor than a writer.
  
• Key tips for would-be beat bloggers.
  
• What is the fate of Pharmalot? Will the site be retired?
  
• Can you separate Pharmalot from Silverman? Would a Pharmalot without Silverman really be the same blog?

Worth checking out while you're on Beat Blogging is a podcast Ed did on becoming a blogger with a beat. You can expect to keep reading Ed online - he's moving to Elsevier, a publisher of science and health information. That role over at Elsevier Business Intelligence includes him contributing to titles including the Pink Sheet and In Vivo, he told Bnet Pharma in an "exit interview."

It's your bill; check it carefuly

I think I'm getting poked to take the incoming medical bills a bit more seriously. the last add-up was so depressing, but I know from experience and the Internet :-) that it pays to check the bills carefully. My husband sent me an article about a wife saving her husband physically and monetarily and a Facebook status alerts me to a bill fighter who won.

I especially like the comments on Why I don't send a Christmas card to my insurance company. Here's a hint - one part of the family was puzzled when some, but not all, monitoring tests were covered.

In comments, you will find talk about just how big of a gift does a wife who saved the family $1,200 in a cash outlay deserve. With persistence, she was able to learn the unpaid tests were coded wrong and the health insurance company was supposed to pay.

The Good Morning America story was a bit more dramatic, so do check it out.

To save you time (so you can check your bills) here are the nine tips I pulled from Wife saves husband, then saves thousands on their medical bills

• Keep a log of the procedures performed and medicines given.
  
  
• Request an itemized bill
  
  
• Match up the dates (The man was billed for procedures that happened before his attack)
  
  
• Watch out for extra zeros
  
  
• Beware of fat fingers - ie. one medication wad listed 7 times on their bill.
  
  
• Know what's included so you don't get charged separately.
  
  
• Don't pay for medical mistakes
  
  
• Don't be afraid to negotiate - with doctors, not the billing department.
  
  
• You can hire help. There are people who like this type of challenge.
  

I have been trying to find the silver lining in my daughter's fight against breast cancer. I've pointed out how helpful it will be to have these "base" scans of her body in years to come.

This might be a chance for me to redeem myself on the "good mom" list as I never finished her baby book. I am working carefully on her medical book. I've been keeping track of which tests she has had, what medicines she takes and who she sees. It's important, to me, that she not get extra radiation or that we repeat tests. Plus, it is a chance to save money, right.

I've already had the pleasure of decoding some of the bills. In network and out-of-network. Negotiated rates and .... (I'm keeping in mind what I learned from The Stupid Cancer Blog - insurance companies will deny three times because most peoplr wiill pay rather then keep fighting ...check into balance billing as hospitals and others may try to collect higher charges more then negotiated but you might not have to pay above the negotiated amount (I say might as it gets back to in and out of network issue and if you signed an agreement to pay everything)

We got a reminder of how important the lists and spreadsheets can be.Someone called to ask if we needed to work out a payment plan to pay for a test done in early November. We might. But first we need the bill.

Journalism's future: Do, preach, pick

From the Google Reader today, I find some preaching and some doing aimed at saving newspapers, or at least, the news business. Plus, there's a reminder you can help pick out a journalism leader.

First the doing - an effort by some Washington journalists who worked together to cover flooding. Their work is highlighted in Networked link journalism: A revolution quietly begins in Washington state over on Publishing 2.0.

Josh Korr's explanation of a "little inovation for journalism - "few Tweets, a bunch of links, and some like-minded pioneers" includes this:

"That’s how a quiet revolution began in Washington state Wednesday. Four journalists spontaneously launched one of the first experiments in collaborative (or networked) link journalism to cover a major local story.

But it gets better. Those four journalists weren’t in the same newsroom. In fact, they all work for different media companies. And here’s the best part: Some of them have never even met in person."

Click over to see examples of the Twitters and learn more about the effort.

Some preaching - News Content: Newspapers' Future Strategy May be the Aggregation of News Sources - found through Robin Good's Latest News on Master New Media shares these ideas for newsapers from John Blossom.

• Get Better Than Bloggers and Search Engines at Aggregating News
  
• Love Print as a Service, Not as Your Brand
  
• Enable Community-generated News More Effectively (Think sports scores, eye-witness accounts, traffic reports, breaking news alerts)

Blossom, who offers services for publishers and consumers of content services, concludes:

"There's no doubt that many news organizations are hitting the right buttons in making decisions on the future of making money from news, but the pace at which those decisions are being made has left a gaping chasm between the cost of sustaining their greatest revenue-generator - print publishing - and the cost of investing more heavily in online publishing methods that will carry them forward to long-term profitability.

As much as online is the answer, though, I think that it's time for publishers to take a far more radical approach to print as soon as possible. Print will survive and thrive - the only question is, in whose hands? The time to release the medium from the brand is at hand, and it can come none too soon for most news organizations' bottom lines."

Speaking of doing, I wish I was in Texas so I could get to a workshop offered by Baylor University's Institute for Oral History. The Retooling Oral History in a Digital Age Workshop promises to explore how digital tools like audio and video can change the interview.

The effect of the tools on the collection of oral history, or stories, has been on my mind for a long time. It came up again over the holidays as once again I heard many people balking at the idea of their photo being taken or ducking when a video camera turns their way.

How will that reluctance affect what is remembered years from now. I think some answers would come up at that workshop.

(For an explanation of how journalism and oral history relates, check out Kissing Cousins.)

Still got time - today's the last day to help pick tomorrow's journalist.

It hurts to laugh; it helps to prepare

You can laugh or you can prepare for a buyout. Your choice. Free From Editors posts a couple of comics on the day that Erica Smith  tweets the Post-Dispatch is laying off more staff. (More details posted here)

Meanwhile, Steve Daley helps out those pressed with coming up with one more speech for the departing ... or as he says:

"As you may have heard (in the newsroom; at Caribou Coffee; on somebody’s blog), John P. Zenger will be leaving his role as (chief investigative reporter; TV critic; ombudsman) at this newspaper."

Of course, you know most Americans don't believe they'll be laid off. That would only happen to those other people, you know.

At least that's what I read on Silicon Valley Insider:

"79% of adult employees aren't concerned about layoffs in the next six months. And if their company's already gone through layoffs, most respondents figure the next round might take out a coworker or two, but not them.

In fact, most employees actually expect a bonus or a raise in the next 12 months."

So based on that survey from company-reviews site Glassdoor.com, I'm probably wasting Internet resources by sharing this advice from journalists. But some folks who met at Poynter suggest:

If you want it, take it now.

That means copy the names of your sources and their contact information, take home your personal belongings, weed through your files and pack up your desk.

If there are copies of your work that you want, get it now. (A lesson I learned the hard way - can't tell you how many times I wish I had the files I was promised I'd get or the ongoing online access I was promised.)

Clean up

That means make sure anything "remotely personal and/or sensitive" is out of your desk.and off the company computer. That should include copies of performance reviews.

"Yes, your hard drive will haunt you to your grave, but there's no point in leaving behind a file slugged WHYMYBOSSISAJERK."

The suggestions include remembering award citations, complimentary letters and e-mails from readers and bosses, and other recognitions.

Sharon Stangenes, formerly of the Chicago Tribune, treasures a thank-you letter from then-unknown attorney-author Scott Turow for her profile of him on the eve of publication of his first blockbuster, "Presumed Innocent."

Be prepared to stay in touch

The Poynter group suggests pulling together a list of the personal e-mails and cell phone numbers of colleagues and bosses.

"You never know where they're going to end up, so personal contact information is more valuable than office numbers or e-mails, says Mary Massingale, former newspaper reporter and editor/writer for an education association in Central Illinois

Start working on a new resume - and don't make it just old media.

Begin to think about what you might do other than daily journalism and learn to create resumes that show how your skills translate.

Make sure you have a personal, professional website as part of that. For details on how, where, examples, etc., head to the post pulled together by Judy Start, who took an early retirement in August. Also contributing to that post wereSid Hastings, Denise Lockwood, John Markon, Mary Massingale, Jane Norman, Pete Skiba and Sharon Stangenes.

Email eases some prescription pain

Wow. I leave Michigan for a few months and come back to find out my doctor now emails prescriptions in. Now, if only I coud figure out a way to get appointments and refills by email. Or better yet know in advance when I will
need medical help.
I tried the natural way of getting rid of the achy, can't talk or breathe or hear crud by drowning myself in sleep and liquids. But I gave up and slipped into the doctor's walk-in line after learning the first available appointment was in 8 days. I was shocked that I was seeing a doctor less then 30 minutes after I signed in! The next shock - right after the sting of a few shots - was learning prescriptions on paper were no longer routine.

Actually, I think emailing the prescriptions in is a good idea. It should cut down on misread prescriptions and missing pads. Plus, this way I could go straight home (more sleep) and ask my husband to pick up the drugs later.

I do hope the practice extends to nationwide - especially if the doctor sends the requests directly to the drug plan's mail order place. Think of the paperwork that can be saved on behalf of senior citizens whose only hope of avoiding the Meficare Part D donut hole is using the mail order option.

On the other hand, I feel sorry for any doctor with patients enrolled in a Medicare Part D plan. I finished out my year comparing 52 plans in my mom's ZIP code in the annual gamble of trying to find the one plan that will cover the most drugs she may take in 2009. The fun is starting with a list of 8 drugs she is currently taking. The chosing is a gamble because first you can't really know what drugs are needed and second, the company can drop at time any drug.

Imagine the pain of the doctor's office, though, that needs to keep track of which of the 52 plans each patient with. (oh yeah, seniors get to choose a new plan, effective Jan. 1 every year).

Medicare Part D has become an annual end of the year ritual for me. This year, I only helped with 2 plans and that was enough. The choosing is almost as painful as breathing right now.

Can we all tell 'hey Mabels?'

Hearing 'that's a 'Hey, Mabel' story was high praise from one of my first editors. It meant you had found and written a tale that would be discussed at the dinner table and near the water cooler.

Of course, that praise came when newspapers were delivered in time for dinner, a meal families ate together in early evening. The line was delivered before vending machines with bottled water and break rooms replaced water coolers as standard office equipment. And when was the last time anyone said 'Mabel?'

Good stories still get discussed today. My questions are: Are there too many stories? Does who tells them make a difference?

I once was an avid storyreader, who gravitated to those first person pieces in newspapers and especially in magazines. But recently I realized that even an offer to get the old standby Women's Day for less than a quarter an issue had little appeal.

I fill that need niche with blogs and rss feeds. Now, I can find quilters, crafters and do-it-yourselfers 24/7. Also available are others who share how they cope with ms, elderly parents and twenty-somethings who move back home. I can read one blog or adopt a variety through a service like BlogHer. When I find a story or cause that pulls my heartstrings, I can talk back as well as PayPal some $$.

I can get even more as the Non-profits and businesses I already support seek my stories and then share what they gather from customers, contributors and clients in their appeals, newsletters and magazines I get for my loyalty.

What I think we lose/lost is the collective knowledge that helps form community around geography

We also take on the need to filter, to think for ourselves. We have to be editors as well as readers. Certainly, mass media sometimes was scammed by storytellers who twisted their lines to elicit donations.

Plus I worry about overload - when you can choose to "know" so many stories does it become easier to tune them all out?

If the Boys & Girls Club, the United Way, the YWCA, the Girl Svouts and others use stories to illustrate impact of programming and funding do the tales all blend into one? (I have been a long time critic of how mass media chooses the medical victim of the week to feature. Now, i wonder how a church, VFW and other groups chooses who to support with an suction or fundraising dinner when so many are in need of help. Some Sundays, I am sure my entire congregation is on the sick list and in need of prayers.)

Does the technique of revealing who we are lose power when it becomes the basis for marketing and changing rather them understanding who we are?

No answers. Just questions once more.

(also, please, be patient, as this post was penned on an iPhone as I try to fulfll a resolution of posting at least 5 times a week)

Iphone photo art? Some days are like that ...

After I took the clips to head, I used the iPhone to document the mess. I am hoping someone can tell me how am I taking these pictures. I merely aimed the phone at her lovely shaved head and snapped the shot. It looked fine, so I took a few more. Those came out perfect. In fact, I only discovered the artsy look when I went to email it

Oh yea. This is my second photo in this technique

Help. What am I doing to get it to look this way.

Barber school will not help me or 'client'

For the first time ever, I used the barber shears at the request of a special client who was tired of it falling out. I argued for a strip down the middle but was over ruled.

I cut it all one length; chemo contributed the bald spots.

Shall I stick with caregiving on the local and family level and skip barber school?

Cross that October task off the to-do list because the ONA08 evaluations are done

At the rate I'm going on my to-do list, I'll be making my New Year's Resolutions this spring. But I've finally completed a project I expected to finish months ago.

I'm sure the planners of the 2009 Online News Association Conference are breathing a sigh of relief now that they have 32 pages of comments and workshop evaluations from the 2008 event to guide them.

Those evaluations on paper traveled from Washington DC to Michigan to Indiana to Tennessee to Michigan to Tennessee to Michigan and now back to Washington DC. Part of the transcribed evaluations were lucky enough to be on the thumb drive that didn't survive a parking lot mishap so I got to do some twice (and let me assure you that some journalists have lots to say.)

In some ways, it wasn't easy giving these evaluations up. The perfectionist wanted to compare my spelling of all the folks who signed their evaluations with the conference attendee list.

The perfectionist wanted to put the program description with each set of ratings to make it easy to understand comments, especially the question on how well the session met objectives outlined in the description

The perfectionist wanted one score for each session, instead of merely listing how many evaluators answered each question as "Weak, Fair, Good, Very Good, and Excellent."

Instead, I transcribed the comments, counted the check marks and sent the work on its way.

Generally, folks loved what was offered content wise. The room setup gathered the most complaints. Folks seem to want chairs and tables and plugs for their computers. Some want the rooms warmer.

As I wrap up the detail work for one more conference, I suggest that the organizers of the next event do all that - plus make the forms available online so folks can type in their own comments. Or make everybody print letters at least 1/2 inch tall and with a medium that won't smear in early snowfalls in Tennessee.

Another option would be to consider going to the unconference format - just get everyone to the hotel, gather a ton of computers, projectors and tech tools and let folks meet up and teach each other. No evaluations necessary.

(Seriously, I appreciated that folks realized sometimes our priorities change rapidly. I know way too much about cancer, planning funerals, and the need for better ways to pay for, find and evaluate health care for those under 30 and over 70. Oh yeah, don't drop a thumb drive under the tire of a moving car.)

Next up, I'm hoping to learn better how to ask for help faster and how to say no :)

A hairy day is a fine one for hats

Today a box of hats arrived from Heavenly Hats, which uses a tagline of sharing hope through hats. I certainly needed hope on this very hairy day - especially late this afternoon when the 24 year old acted liked a 3 year old with scissors.

The hats organization was founded by a 10 year old boy and distributes new hats to those who lose their hair because of medical conditions.

All of the hats are new. Many carry the sample label. Some are knit, or crocheted or sewn by volunteers. Some are an instant hit. Some make us laugh and laughter is good. Hey, she started the afternoon saying the purple one would never go on her head and look where it is now.

We, of course, knew not all hats are perfect. Here's my daughter's first attempt to make her own chemo hat. She's doing much better now that she really knows how to do a double crochet.

The hats come on a good day - a clump of hair came out when she ran her fingers through it while rating her fourth meal of the day. (Yes, many here are sure that the reason it took hours longer then expected to put in her port was doctors secretly hollowed out a leg so she could attempt to eat us out of house and home.)

The hats come on the day she's decided the top of the head pain is from the tenderness of the hair leaving the trail in the shower, on the pillow, on the rug and now the table.

The trail bothers her for a couple of reasons - the fact that it is hers and the fact that it is a trail. Who knew I raised a neatnik. I'm too busy cooking and she's not expecting the energy boost to clean until sometime next week. She's rejected my offer to get rid of the three dogs in attempt to eliminate some hair.

The hats come on the day she's decided it would be easier if it just fell off all at once. We could have skipped the short hair stage - which she hates, she says. Fortunately, I am peeling onions when we both realize why some choose to shave their heads; why even the short cut isn't enough.

Her long shower gives me time to finish that batch of tears and I brace myself for the bald head.

Instead, i get another laugh as decides to wait to shave. Instead, she comes out with a most unusual style as more rebellious lengths decide to stand at attention. (Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of that!)

Later in the day, I learn I better not wait to post from now. She left the kitchen to trim her bangs and came back wearing a new do. What do you think?

Oh, by the way -- I could send you to her blog. But, I'll just borrow some of it now. I don't think we have a crossover audience. Let's start with her Facebook status: Katie W is done with 2... now i'm wilting!

Round two is done.. gearing up for 3!!

hello peeps! i emerge after resting for a couple of days. I had issues with the hospital this week, They scheduled my appointment for 11am with the doctor and my chemo treatment for 5pm! So yes we got to hangout around the hospital for a long time! But i now know i don't like treatments at night and prefer getting them over with because it kinda of woke me up that night and I really couldn't sleep til the next day. Plus now my days are all screwed up and I swear today is still thursday even though everything says friday!

I am officially wilting now and losing what hair I have at a faster pace than normal so I'm off to do an at home trim because as most of you know with my slight OCD I cannot stand hairs of any kind just floating around on clothes and such! grrr.... they are driving me crazy!! :O) Plus this way I get to pretend like I'm shear genius but not because i can mess up and not get eliminated.

I hope everyone had a better new years eve then i did and everyone old enough to have a drink had one for me! before treatment Lew and I rented a whole bunch of movies and have only 1 left out of 6! i must say we rented don't mess with the zohan and well it was one of the worst adam sandler movies I have ever seen! I really like him too! It was a bummer but hopefully we saved the best on for last kung Fu Panda!! That will be tonight's viewing!

Oh yea some great news from the last doctor's appointment my tumor before treatment was 6 cmX 9 cm on the outside of my skin ( they take a rough measurement because they really can't tell how big it is on the inside without more expensive tests so this is like the cheap version of measuring/ monitoring using a ruler) (sorry about the spelling) but after the first round it is now 5cmX5cm - sooo whoohoo!!!! go yucky chemo drugs that are doing their job! I told my mom the bright red color of the drug reminds me of tiny hatchet men from the music group lewis and I listen too and I keep visioning them attacking the tumor whenever it gets injected... she gave me a weird look like many of you are probably doing too but i read that it helps to vision the meds working like this and it makes tons of since to me since the color is like bright blood koolaid! Ahh... well i must trim this mop of hair i have left! Laters!!

By the way, she's wrong. Mom likse the imagery of the hatchet men. The haircut, I'm not so crazy about.

So peeps, Laters!!!

Can laid-off journalists do web business ?

A headline change on LinkedIn (Job or freelance work wanted), a FaceBook status on someone acquiring a co-worker's flowers, and a couple of posts in blogs written by people I've worked with help create a gloomy start to 2009. Yes, more folks I know either start 2009 jobless or know they soon will be.

Yet some still offer hope, the idea that there might be a way to ensure communities are covered and laid-off journalists can find new ways to earn pay.

For instance, a group of believers that the changes happening can lead to something better ask:

What would a news-organization incubator look like?

Anyone interested is invited to a Jan. 21 Talkfest set in Columbia, Missouri. Only cost is getting there. Or you can also attend via Adobe Connect.

Bill Densmore invited folks via his FaceBook status to an event called "Putting Feet on the Streets for Journalism/" The event recognizes layoffs atnewspapers, lack of coverage in communities while web efforts grow.

Over on the wiki about the effort it says:

"the RJI Collaboratory could provide resources and knowledge on how to start effective and successful Web-based news organizations. Those who could benefit from the news organization incubator are entrepreneurial mid-career journalists, and existing news organizations that are undertaking the transformational strategies necessary to adapt to a Webcentric world."

The plans for the one day session are set:

"During the one-day event, we'll meet together in the morning to show you some successful Web-based news organizations. We'll discuss why we think a news organization incubator is necessary, and identify issues that entrepreneurial journalists and existing news organizations face as they make the transition to becoming Webcentric news organizations.

In the afternoon, we'll meet in working groups to address particular issues in starting a news organization incubator, and how it will function. The approaches developed in those groups will serve as the foundation for a plan for the RJI Collaboratory. "

Fellow Jane Ellen Stevens is the main contact (jstevens@mmjourno.com, 707-495-1112) is the contact. But first head to the wiki for more details on program, goals, etc.

Happy new year. Happy new ways.

First words on their last day and other links

I pulled out the laptop today, cleaning up my list of "must read" sites. At the end of the day, I see that changes in journalism still attract me. You?

Perhaps, I always will. You can catch up on Jim Smith's ideas of who will announce by the Dec. 29 deadline in Flint on Free From Editors. He expects half of the newsroom to go.

The cake is from the first big buyout bash - one of the folks going in the second big buyout posted a bunch of photos today on Facebook. Still waiting to hear when the bash is, but at least I found some "helpful phrases" to use.

What are Twitter friends for?

Jim MacMillan: Blogging, News, Information and Opinion from Philadelphia, like many of us knows of folks who are leaving the news business. He remembered his last day - you want to be remembered, but it's not really a day to celebrate.

Another round of layoffs and buyouts were coming up and he didn't know what to say. So he used Twitter to solicit advice on what do you say to journalists on their last day ... or the day that they find out that they are done.

Suggestions included send a message to them reminding them about some good work; buy a beer; take them out for fun; make sure they are on Linkedin and recommend them .... and more

• Quest for Expertise « Disparate

Tracking down the "rule of thumb" that it takes 10 years to be an expert; blogger includes primary sources, more links to follow

• Top 10 tips for journalists who blog « Save the Media

Gina Chen's new blog is Save the media. The post with 10 tips could be squished into fewer. Her 10: Start with intro; be accurate, use attribution; know audience, get a personality; talk, write, give something new, give an opinion; interact. My take: Be a journalist to look up to by writing accurately for a group of folks who care about something, but more importantly be an opinionated human being who follows the golden rules of giving credit where due, gives more then takes, and doesn't bore people to death. You know, someone you wouldn't mind sitting next to at another chicken-dinner fundraiser.

• What the Ann Arbor News should do
A former employee gave up waiting for the newspaper to explain what's going on with the buyouts and changes coming to this Booth newspaper so she explains what she knows and what she thinks should be done

• Exploitation of the Voiceless
More proof that you don't have to buy expensive equipment - more on the Flip.

An editor looks at what was

A weekly newspaper gives a former editor, Tom Honig, a place to write about what changed at the Santa Cruz Sentinel. It's about one newspaper, but could be about many.

First, Tom tells us how depressing it can be to pick up a skinny newspaper, especially when it once was larger.

He talks about credibility. Plus, he shares the story of a newspaper going from a family-owned newspaper to one owned by a chain and then another chain.

Take a gander: News & Culture in Santa Cruz, CA | 12.03.08

A bonus is the printing of a Phil Meyer piece on "the elite newspaper of the future." Yes, it's a repeat, but it is important advice for all who are deciding how to ensure the success of newspapers

A measure of success (or something)

It's the end of the year, a time when I usually measure how well I've met goals of the year. Plus, I need a break from gloomy things so what can be more uplifting then Twitter. TweetStats helped me learn a lot - like 19 times in 13 months I've had Twitters that were exactly 140 characters long, that 36% of my tweets are replies to others and I share a lot of links, talk a lot about the iPhone, news and Twitter.

I love word clouds (see illustration) as a way of telling me what I'm saying. If only I could get that at the dinner table :-)
The TweetStats program shows May, August and October were my slow Twitter months. But, boy was I noisy in Feb. when I had more then 100 (and to my surprise lots of folks still followed me.)

Sunday seems to be my favorite day to send out a Twitter. I'll Twitter at any hour of the day with 8-11 p.m. EST my most popular times (although 6 a.m. seems popular too).

One nice gift from TweetStats - it shows what program I used to send Twitters and that helped me remember that Hahlo was the program I liked on the iPhone (before its last crash; some days I'm so glad there are computers available to help us keep track of life's little things.)

Even more, I'm glad life is a bit more normal - I'm actually watching Jay Leno for the first time since October.

(If you click on the graphics you can actually read them.)

What people say: Angels

A friend notes that me without computer access is like an angel without wings.

That makes me laugh because two groups that started calling me Mary Angel recently are waiting for projects that require my computer. And the same day I heard the angel line is the first time I heard from them in awhile.

Wish I had wings - I would fly the coop to a clutter-free, no boxes, no pain place (with consistent computer access, please)

Following follies: Real life and online

I failed following today - at the grocery store and online. And that's actually a good thing for me.

At the grocery store, a place I rarely go, I lingered too long looking for Goo-Goo bars and something to heat later for dinner. I wanted a few other things for the 10-hour road trip on Tuesday too. But I was walking too slow and as everyone who was in the store knows I don't listen well either.

At least that's the opinion shared by my daughter right before I suggested perhaps she should do her own shopping and then wait for me in the car. Afterall, I may not shop a lot but I can do it on my own.

Now, I suppose some of this is because she is scared to start her cancer treatments, sad about leaving a job she worked hard to get and I get that she is physically hurting.

But I am doing her no favors by being her punching bag. As I explained later, moms are people too. And though I love her dearly, her words are not the only thing I listen too - yes, I talked to a stranger which is why I didn't hear her talking to me. It was tough, but I also had to remind her other folks have needs too. Her cancer card doesn't wipe out needs of others. We still have to eat, sleep, breathe, even laugh. Yes, the caretaker needs caretaking too.

Online is harder because I don't get this autofollowing stuff - especially if the new follower gets upset because they don't like what I tweet or post or say.

Just because I comment or heaven forbid follow someone, it doesn't mean I want to be best buds. It might just be I need what you are righting about right now

See, I know I love this new techie stuff - I tried Mr. Tweet, Qwitter and PeopleBrowsr as soon as I heard about them - but these days I am just as interested in breast cancer at 24 or anything Girl Scouts or Open Space or journalism or storytelling and I might post, tweet or bookmark that. Don't like the diversity? Feel free to unfollow. Feel free to tell me why. Just don't expect me to change anytime soon.

Listening, sleeping, traveling

Life unravels quickly. New software, new ideas pop up faster then I can keep up because the only routine is that there is none.

I am back in Tennesee. The first day I had the fever my daughter was warned to avoid. I slept while she worked and accepted a card filled with wishes and dollars. It is good that we returned so they all could say goodbye.

The second day, I filled out the dreaded, annual, yes the man with alzheimers still needs the government's help to survive - safely - forms. When I look for thelaptop's powercord, I discover it is in Michigan

That means I am limited to the iPhone.

I had hoped to bring a piece from my head to the computer to help me figure out what to say at my dad's service on Saturday.

I wanted to empty the warp and weavings of people and time that haunt me when I return to the place where I was told -30
years ago - that I would never see 30 years old.

I wanted to finish a few projects to prepare for the launch of 3 new projects - 1 destined to be a part of Typepad's Bailout Program for Journalists.

Instead, I will try paper. I will try reading. And perhaps more sleep so that I am strong for the new results and actions wwaiying our return on Tuesday, a return after the snow

Instead I listen to those who say I am too
Raw to share right now


.

Who is leading the Girl Scouts now?

Catching up with some of the Girl Scout convention action instead of packing :-)

Just in case you don't keep up with all the e-mail lists and blogs about Girl Scouts and read every word in the the workbook, I thought I'd share some information about the new Girl Scout board.



The 2008-2011 National Board of Directors includes:

Officers

* President – Connie L. Lindsey, Chicago, Ill. (You can read or view the "Great Leaders are Great Servents" acceptance speech of this woman who became a Girl Scout nearly 40 years ago in Milwaukee, Wis.)
* First Vice President – Davia B. Temin, New York, N.Y. (was a Girl Scout as a girl)
* Second Vice President – Linda P. Foreman, Durham, N.C. (was a Girl Scout as a girl)
* Secretary – Angel L. Rodriguez, Parker, Texas
* Treasurer – Joan Wagnon, Topeka, Kans. (was a Girl Scout as a girl)

Members-at-Large

* Sylvia Acevedo, Austin, Texas
* Barbara F. Adachi, San Mateo, Calif.
* Harriet Edelman, Stamford, Conn.
* Raquel Egusquiza, Dearborn, Mich.
* Ellen S. Fox, New York, N.Y. (was a Girl Scout as a girl)
* Lisa Guillermin Gable, Upperville, Va.
* Linda Mazon Gutierrez, Tucson, Ariz.
* Nan C. Hillis, Winter Park, Fla. (was a Girl Scout as a girl)
* Michelle L. Holiday, Washington, D.C. (was a Girl Scout as a girl)
* John Hom, South Orange, N.J.
* Marie C. Johns, Washington, D.C.(was a Girl Scout as a girl)
* Ingrid Saunders Jones, Atlanta, Ga.
* Karen A. Maloney, Chatham, N.J.(was a Girl Scout as a girl)
* Sharon H. Matthews, Charlotte, N.C. (was a Girl Scout as a girl)
* Robert L. Morris, Columbia Station, Ohio
* Debra Nakatomi, Los Angeles, Calif. (was a Girl Scout as a girl)
* Susan P. Peters, Fairfield, Conn.
* Vikki L. Pryor, New Rochelle, N.Y.
* Patricia Romines, Bartlesville, Okla.(was a Girl Scout as a girl)
* Rhea S. Schwartz, Washington, D.C. and Sun Valley, Idaho
* Sara L. Schwebel, Columbia, S.C. (was a Girl Scout as a girl, who earned her Gold Award)
* Eileen Scott, Basking Ridge, N.J.
* Gail M. Talbott, Cocoa Beach, Fla.
* Susan L. Taylor, New York, N.Y.
* Marisa Tabizon Thompson, Eugene, Ore. (was a Girl Scout as a girl, who earned her Gold Award)





Over on the Boys and Girl Scouts blog, we learn that the newly elected first vice president of the board of directors was once the top cookie seller.

The blog author/administrator says:

"I looking on the Marketwatch site at the press release that the GSUSA put out regarding the election of the First Vice President of the Scouts’ Board of Directors, Davia Temin. I’m glad someone thought to put in this connection with Girl Scouts as it seems like the pros who run the organization many times don’t have a close connection with the traditions of Girl Scouts.

A former Girl Scout, one year Ms. Temin sold more cookies than any girl inhttp://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=6526127125590696183 Ohio. She was honored by The Girl Scout Council of Greater New York as a Woman of Distinction in 2007."



Did I miss any former girl Girl Scouts (14 of the 27 possible) or directors who earned their Gold Awards (2)?

Originally posted in Convention Talk.

If you look, you'll find support - even in Girl Scouts

The first time I learned that the recent national Girl Scout convention was evidence of the movement leaning left was through a Yahoo group called GreenBlood News.

Carol Lee Spages, who runs the group does a great job of sourcing her posts, so she led us to Politically Direct Jane Chastain. "Girl Scouts go hard left – and downhill" is Chastain's analysis of what happened at the convention.

Chastain, the former Girl Scout who has come out against the Girl Scouts and its Journey programming before, starts off:

Change” was the buzz word for the Obama campaign. Change was also the buzz word at the 51st Girl Scout National Council Session and Convention held earlier this month in Indianapolis, Indiana. It stands as further proof that change is not always for the better.

From the opening ceremony to the exhibitors in the convention hall, it is clear that the direction the Girl Scouts has chosen is a hard left, downhill.

Over on GreenBlood Gab, a companion Yahoo group where anyone can speak, reaction was swift with some agreeing and some not.

What amused me is how quickly Google and Yahoo searches started sending me links to what was Chastain's piece, only posted under different attributions. I'm amazed at how many just pick it up word for word.

Like American Daily, which says it is a site of "Analysis with Political and Social Commentary." and picked up Girl Scouts go Hard Left and downhill. word for word. At least the poster only put the first few paragraphs and linked to the rest.

There's some reaction over on the blog from Lighthouse Trails Research. See Girl Scouts Continue Plunge into New Age Spirituality there, a site devoted to exposing the "dangers of contemplative spirituality."

And some in the Feminine-Genius blog, where the writer starts off by saying she's not into the outdoors in a blog that "explores the richness of authentic femininty."

The original by Politically Direct Jane Chastain has gotten some reaction, like this one by Lee Ross under "Watching the watcher."

Lee starts this way:

"Why does Jane Chastain fear, hate, and/or disdain the Girl Scouts of America (GSA), of all groups? Well, apparently because they're leftists addicted to change kind of like Barack Obama, and because they've added an asterisk to God. And you were worried about al Qaeda while all the while the Girl Scouts were selling God and country down the river of new age waters and multicultural streams!

Now being anti-Girl Scout is hardly a crime, and you have to take into account that Chastain is the same person who basically said that America's financial meltdown was one of God's little ways of telling us that abortion (and a bunch of other modern stuff, I presume) is bad. In the same column where she flat out said that "Obama, has pledged his allegiance to Roe v. Wade, while giving lip service to God. The other candidate, McCain, is honoring God with his stand and, for the most part, has a record to back it up." So we're not talking a lot of open mindedness, here, we're talking the right wing tip of Christian literalness and extremity. But, come on, fear of the Girl Scouts?"

You can read the rest over on Watching the Watchers ("a journal of media criticism and political coverage that has been published since July 2004"), but I really like this reaction to Chastain being upset that Geena Davis spoke to the convention on Sunday:

"Geena Davis is a "left-wing" political activist because she has sought equal treatment of males and females? And even worse, she starred in "Commander in Chief?" Holy crap, how could they foist such filth on young female minds?"

Want to know how scary another speaker was? Former Ms. Foundation president Marie Wilson, who founded the White House Project and Take Your Daughter to Work Day, upset at least one convention goer.

"I was at the national convention, and the feminism of Ms. MS and Ms. Davis was so overwhelming and scary for me that I had to leave the convention hall and go outside for a breath of fresh air. Ms. MS told us that we’d have to help ourselves, “the military won’t help us”. That did it for me - my son is becoming a Marine as I write this, and that was absolutely all I wanted to hear from her.

"

If you want to see more comments on the original posting, you need to go to Jane Chastain's blog.