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June 13, 2007
Journalism mayhem
I was in a bar at the board meeting of the regional Society of Professional Journalists today when a gang from the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies strolled in. We nearly had a rumble.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 09:13 PM | Comments (1)
June 12, 2007
Ma vie en Rose City
I made a map of my life in Portland. If you zoom in, you can see some of my favorite places. It's fun to make. I really want to learn to use google's data to make maps I can integrate directly into this web site, but that's a little above me right now.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 06:50 AM | Comments (3)
June 11, 2007
More siblings
Amy is here, too, though only for a few days. I wish we got more time with her.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 10:39 PM | Comments (0)
June 10, 2007
Morgan's here!
My brother Morgan is moving to Portland today, with his long-term significant other Robin. They're driving west along I-84 as I type. They're gonna live in the house that Ben and I moved out of a couple of weeks ago. We'll be passing along the keys in the next hour or so. Huzzah!
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 03:00 PM | Comments (1)
June 09, 2007
I ran far
I ran a half marathon today. The Helvetia Half Marathon, 13.1 hilly miles near Hillsboro. I actually ran about 10.5 of the miles. I took a couple of planned walking breaks along the way, and an unplanned "oh my gawd my legs are gonna fall off" break toward the end.
A picture of my bedraggled and exhausted rubber-legged self may be posted online at finishshots.com later, though my clothes partially obscured my running number so I'm not sure if I'll actually get posted. Search for 2473 on Sunday or Monday to see if I'm there.
I'm tired and sore, but after a veggie burger and a bath, and with a cup of Ben-made coffee before, me I actually feel pretty good.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 01:39 PM | Comments (0)
June 08, 2007
New variation on a recurring nightmare
Grown up, somewhere in Asia maybe, when the teeth start feeling loose. Unpacking when the first one falls out. Suddenly I'm a child again. My mom is there. I look outside the window at trees and it's beautiful. A tooth falls out and I want to cry. I look in the mirror and for the first time realize how far gone I am. Maybe six left on the bottom, four on the top. It's an emergency. I start to panic and ask my mom to call the dentist right away. I don't want dentures. Maybe I can get implants.
When I wake up, I run to the bathroom. It seemed so real. But there they all are when I look in the mirror, my teeth.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 06:35 AM | Comments (1)
June 07, 2007
Typical Thursday
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 06:40 PM | Comments (6)
June 04, 2007
The news from Lake Benjamacourtney
Tonight I made tapioca pudding. I thought tapioca was a seed, but apparently it comes from the cassava root. I cook tapioca about once every three years, if that. It's good, but I'm generally not a dessert person.
I ran 5.3 miles, which wasn't as far as I originally planned to go. My body felt blissfully exhausted when it was over. Ben and I watched the last couple of episodes of World War II mini-drama "Band of Brothers." The Holocaust always makes me cry. It's hard to imagine anything worse or more awful, and it's an important reminder that just wars do exist.
Ben has been very productive lately, and his streak continued tonight. All of the remaining unpacked boxes are my responsibility. I'm not feeling motivated to tackle them.
Next weekend I run a half-marathon. I'm thinking of writing a novel; I've written a few fragments and sketched out the characters and plot. I'm throwing myself into my work, but only for 40 hours each week. That's enough.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 11:32 PM | Comments (1)
June 02, 2007
shop talk
With the help of the above feline, the above human won second place for reporting on consumer issues in a regional Society of Professional Journalists competition. I placed for a story about pet health insurance. I used Mister's kidney health issues in a cost-benefit analysis to see whether I'd have saved any money if I'd had pet insurance instead of just paying out of pocket. I wouldn't have.
I also got third place for business reporting, but I don't remember what story I placed for.
I'd have preferred a first place, but it feels pretty good to go up against journalists from Alaska, Oregon, Idaho, Washington and Montana and to come out OK.
Before the awards banquet, I was formally voted on to the board of the Greater Oregon and Southwest Washington Society of Professional Journalists, and I was named membership chair. I volunteered for the spot a couple of weeks ago.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 09:35 PM | Comments (5)