Sunday, November 29, 2009
A Tiger's Tale
A Tiger’s Tale…
I’m a journalist with all my heart. I love the profession and will participate in its excitement until my dying breath. I have covered entertainment and art, as well as non-profit activities. A little fluffy, right? Yes, and I like it that way. Not all journalists are hard-nosed, gotta-get-it-first types. Some of us do cover only the softer side of the news.
The gotta-get-it-first types do intrigue me however. Truth is, I would have loved to be one. The schedule doesn’t appeal to me though. I was a very young mother when I graduated from college, and I didn’t want to be on call. Making appointments and writing in-depth was more my style, and it worked for me.
I was a little sick on Friday when Tiger Woods had an accident outside his home. The first tweet from Breaking News On said that the situation was “serious,” and I was very worried about our “friend,” Tiger. I call him friend because he’s in our home almost daily. We watch his poise, his vigor and his sure will. We breathe his emotion on red-shirt Sunday, and we can only hope his health and his drive remain in tact so that we may watch him for years to come.
I texted my golfer Friday when I was tweeted, and of course, my husband called me from the golf course, demanding more information. I had none for about 30 minutes. Everyone at the golf course was worried sick, and the television was turned on immediately. People were glued to the set … and then we found out that Tiger was in fact no longer still in the hospital and had only minor injuries.
Are you kidding me?
It fascinates me as a journalist that people are ready to pounce on information. The one thing that I beg of my journalism students is that they check and recheck their sources. Waiting and getting it right is much better than jumping and misstating facts. Shame on the television and Internet media for jumping. Really, you couldn’t wait 30 minutes to get confirmation before scaring us all half-to-death?
Now, whether Tiger was hacked off with his wife for burning the cookies or she was clubbing through that back window because he was late again for dinner (been there, have definitely had thoughts of doing the same) is yet to be known. But really, if this is a domestic spat, haven’t we all stormed off in an argument and thought not-so-nice stuff about the “others” in our lives. I would hate for the world to know that I stumped my toe once while pitching a little hissy fit at Jake. Whoops, cat’s out of the bag.
I have much more important things to worry about than what Tiger was doing at 2:25 in the morning banging into a fire hydrant. A lot of us were up at that time of the morning on that particular day. I’m content with the thought that maybe Elin had sent him to line up at the Best Buy. It was Black Friday after all! Then, he got so frustrated at this crazy request that the accidentally hit the fire hydrant and the tree after his swing was for once too quick. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.
I’m a journalist with all my heart. I love the profession and will participate in its excitement until my dying breath. I have covered entertainment and art, as well as non-profit activities. A little fluffy, right? Yes, and I like it that way. Not all journalists are hard-nosed, gotta-get-it-first types. Some of us do cover only the softer side of the news.
The gotta-get-it-first types do intrigue me however. Truth is, I would have loved to be one. The schedule doesn’t appeal to me though. I was a very young mother when I graduated from college, and I didn’t want to be on call. Making appointments and writing in-depth was more my style, and it worked for me.
I was a little sick on Friday when Tiger Woods had an accident outside his home. The first tweet from Breaking News On said that the situation was “serious,” and I was very worried about our “friend,” Tiger. I call him friend because he’s in our home almost daily. We watch his poise, his vigor and his sure will. We breathe his emotion on red-shirt Sunday, and we can only hope his health and his drive remain in tact so that we may watch him for years to come.
I texted my golfer Friday when I was tweeted, and of course, my husband called me from the golf course, demanding more information. I had none for about 30 minutes. Everyone at the golf course was worried sick, and the television was turned on immediately. People were glued to the set … and then we found out that Tiger was in fact no longer still in the hospital and had only minor injuries.
Are you kidding me?
It fascinates me as a journalist that people are ready to pounce on information. The one thing that I beg of my journalism students is that they check and recheck their sources. Waiting and getting it right is much better than jumping and misstating facts. Shame on the television and Internet media for jumping. Really, you couldn’t wait 30 minutes to get confirmation before scaring us all half-to-death?
Now, whether Tiger was hacked off with his wife for burning the cookies or she was clubbing through that back window because he was late again for dinner (been there, have definitely had thoughts of doing the same) is yet to be known. But really, if this is a domestic spat, haven’t we all stormed off in an argument and thought not-so-nice stuff about the “others” in our lives. I would hate for the world to know that I stumped my toe once while pitching a little hissy fit at Jake. Whoops, cat’s out of the bag.
I have much more important things to worry about than what Tiger was doing at 2:25 in the morning banging into a fire hydrant. A lot of us were up at that time of the morning on that particular day. I’m content with the thought that maybe Elin had sent him to line up at the Best Buy. It was Black Friday after all! Then, he got so frustrated at this crazy request that the accidentally hit the fire hydrant and the tree after his swing was for once too quick. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Ponchatoula High School Basketball Nov. 17
The PHS varsity squad had a successful season opener, beating Central Lafourche 69-59 on home court.
Click below for pictures from the varsity game.
Pictures from the JV game.
Photos from the freshmen game against Covington.
Click below for pictures from the varsity game.
Pictures from the JV game.
Photos from the freshmen game against Covington.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Twitter and Mobypic
I'm now officially a twittermom. There actually is a site called twittermoms.com. On this site, members tweet about being moms, enjoying motherhood and all that garbo. There is a Twilight Twitter Mom group on the twittermoms page, and it presently has almost 500 members.
On this site, I can be a photgraphy twittermom; however, this is not for me. I have a hard time printing out my photos, much less showing them off. Who really wants to see pictures of my kids anyway? I'm guilty of the occassional pulling the picture out of the wallet trick, but I try to steer clear of shoving too many of my kids' pictures in people's faces because I hate it when I get stuck in the grocery store checkout line with one of those moms -- or grandmoms!
I'm not a member of the twittermom site, so what makes me a twittermom? Tonight, I shamelessly took pictures of Shayne, my 14-year-old son, at his first summer baseball game using Mobypicture, which is hooked up to my twitter site, which is linked to my Facebook page. Through use of Mobypicture, I could upload the photo to both twitter and Facebook at the same time. I could also add a caption to the picture, much like I can do on my mobile Facebook application. The great thing is that it uploads to my twitter and Facebook account at the same time.
I was pleased with the results. I knew it would prompt my sister-in-law to make a phone call to my mother-in-law to tell her all the news of Shayne's game. They are so proud of him! Since they are three hours driving time away, it makes it easy for them to be part of the action..
So what is Mobypicture? It's an application you may download to your phone, and you may use your computer's online connection to link it to your social networking sites. At present, Mobypicture links to such networks as Youtube, Flickr, Blogger.com and Facebook.
Learning curve: about 10 minutes
Cost: Free
Site: Mobypicture.com
Journalists may use this picture site to upload their pictures straight from their phones to Flickr, which is a wonderful tool for creating codes to embed photographs into blog entries. Remember, most phones don't take high-resolution photographs (yet), which means the pictures will not print especially well. But for online news, camera phones will sometimes to the trick, especially if the news is breaking.
The World is your Wide Web!
On this site, I can be a photgraphy twittermom; however, this is not for me. I have a hard time printing out my photos, much less showing them off. Who really wants to see pictures of my kids anyway? I'm guilty of the occassional pulling the picture out of the wallet trick, but I try to steer clear of shoving too many of my kids' pictures in people's faces because I hate it when I get stuck in the grocery store checkout line with one of those moms -- or grandmoms!
I'm not a member of the twittermom site, so what makes me a twittermom? Tonight, I shamelessly took pictures of Shayne, my 14-year-old son, at his first summer baseball game using Mobypicture, which is hooked up to my twitter site, which is linked to my Facebook page. Through use of Mobypicture, I could upload the photo to both twitter and Facebook at the same time. I could also add a caption to the picture, much like I can do on my mobile Facebook application. The great thing is that it uploads to my twitter and Facebook account at the same time.
I was pleased with the results. I knew it would prompt my sister-in-law to make a phone call to my mother-in-law to tell her all the news of Shayne's game. They are so proud of him! Since they are three hours driving time away, it makes it easy for them to be part of the action..
So what is Mobypicture? It's an application you may download to your phone, and you may use your computer's online connection to link it to your social networking sites. At present, Mobypicture links to such networks as Youtube, Flickr, Blogger.com and Facebook.
Learning curve: about 10 minutes
Cost: Free
Site: Mobypicture.com
Journalists may use this picture site to upload their pictures straight from their phones to Flickr, which is a wonderful tool for creating codes to embed photographs into blog entries. Remember, most phones don't take high-resolution photographs (yet), which means the pictures will not print especially well. But for online news, camera phones will sometimes to the trick, especially if the news is breaking.
The World is your Wide Web!
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Learning from my students
It's March 31, 2009. Supposedly, I'm in the last hour before the Conflicker virus starts its magic with computers all over the world.
Today, one of my students explained that this new virus can attack many computers and websites in an instant, leaving them slow, ailing and incompetent. I got sick for a moment, the one I get every time I think of some 19-year-old kid sitting in his messy bedroom pumping out code to ruin the world. Then I thought -- heck, I have a Mac; I'll be cool.
Tonight, I start looking on my computer and realize that Macs aren't completely immune. The free-for-30-days virus software will work. Download. Run. I'm good I guess.
If Josh hadn't spoken up today, I may not have known about the virus. It's not on the Apple homepage, and I hadn't heard it on the news. Maybe it's an April Fool's joke. Maybe not.
Every once in a while, my students teach me something. I have come to depend on their knowledge for such things as good movies to rent (and which ones I can show my kids), where to eat and even what to do for entertainment over the weekend.
College kids will keep me young for many years to come. I get a happy little feeling when one of my female students tells me my shoes are cute or my hair looks nice. I also take a certain amount of pride in them asking me what I think about current events.
Maybe I'll make them smarter, but they will definitely make me "cooler." Or, should I say "tight"er?
The world is your wide web ... enjoy!
Today, one of my students explained that this new virus can attack many computers and websites in an instant, leaving them slow, ailing and incompetent. I got sick for a moment, the one I get every time I think of some 19-year-old kid sitting in his messy bedroom pumping out code to ruin the world. Then I thought -- heck, I have a Mac; I'll be cool.
Tonight, I start looking on my computer and realize that Macs aren't completely immune. The free-for-30-days virus software will work. Download. Run. I'm good I guess.
If Josh hadn't spoken up today, I may not have known about the virus. It's not on the Apple homepage, and I hadn't heard it on the news. Maybe it's an April Fool's joke. Maybe not.
Every once in a while, my students teach me something. I have come to depend on their knowledge for such things as good movies to rent (and which ones I can show my kids), where to eat and even what to do for entertainment over the weekend.
College kids will keep me young for many years to come. I get a happy little feeling when one of my female students tells me my shoes are cute or my hair looks nice. I also take a certain amount of pride in them asking me what I think about current events.
Maybe I'll make them smarter, but they will definitely make me "cooler." Or, should I say "tight"er?
The world is your wide web ... enjoy!
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Writing will forever be in my blood
When I graduated with my Ph.D., I declared I would never again take a test. My goal shortly afterward was that someday I would become accredited in public relations, which would require me to take a multiple choice exam.
Two-and-a-half years later, and having left that desire almost completely, I feel my first declaration may have been on the nose. Heck, I did become a college professor so I could go to school forever. The school part I like; the test part not so much.
I've always hated taking tests. I'm definitely one of those folks who is "not a good test-taker." When I took the GRE to get into graduate school, it was during about hour three that I began guessing without reading the question. At that point I didn't care whether I got my master's degree or not -- I just wanted out of that room! The room was too cold, then too hot, then stuffy ... and never comfortable.
The one thing I will never be able to say is that I've had enough writing. This year, when Gustav decided to hit Louisiana, I wanted to cover the story. I covered my family's stay in my father's mechanic shop, and I covered the fact that people with disabilities have even more special needs than usual when they are in storm situations.
I covered Voodoo Fest for NOLA.com alongside some interns this semester as well. I learned a couple things about myself that weekend. First, I'm not as old as I sometimes feel -- those acts were HOT. Second, I want to learn how to take a decent picture, darnit! I even bought a new camera -- also HOT.
As a journalist, I will never say that I never want to write again. I will continue to love this field until I take my last breath, and I will always want to learn more about it. As for journalism, I think it's either in your blood or not. I'm definitely a bleeder.
The world is your wide web. Enjoy!
Two-and-a-half years later, and having left that desire almost completely, I feel my first declaration may have been on the nose. Heck, I did become a college professor so I could go to school forever. The school part I like; the test part not so much.
I've always hated taking tests. I'm definitely one of those folks who is "not a good test-taker." When I took the GRE to get into graduate school, it was during about hour three that I began guessing without reading the question. At that point I didn't care whether I got my master's degree or not -- I just wanted out of that room! The room was too cold, then too hot, then stuffy ... and never comfortable.
The one thing I will never be able to say is that I've had enough writing. This year, when Gustav decided to hit Louisiana, I wanted to cover the story. I covered my family's stay in my father's mechanic shop, and I covered the fact that people with disabilities have even more special needs than usual when they are in storm situations.
I covered Voodoo Fest for NOLA.com alongside some interns this semester as well. I learned a couple things about myself that weekend. First, I'm not as old as I sometimes feel -- those acts were HOT. Second, I want to learn how to take a decent picture, darnit! I even bought a new camera -- also HOT.
As a journalist, I will never say that I never want to write again. I will continue to love this field until I take my last breath, and I will always want to learn more about it. As for journalism, I think it's either in your blood or not. I'm definitely a bleeder.
The world is your wide web. Enjoy!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Thank God for the Internet
This is why the Internet is so special. In May 2007, my hard drive crashed, taking with it all my pictures from Hawaii ... or so I thought.
Earlier today, I was meeting with my new friend from NOLA.com, Milena Merrill. Milena asked me if I had a flickr.com account so I could load photos for my NOLA.com blogs. I told her no.
When I got home, I tried to get an account and was surprised when the site said I already had one. I indicated I had forgotten my password, and it was e-mailed to me. When I logged on, I found 17 of my favorite pictures from Hawaii. I hope you enjoy them; I just about cried!
The World is your Wide Web ... and use it to upload your pics! You'll be thankful if your hard drives crashes and burns.
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