February 14, 2005
hundreds of old entries imported
I spent a few hours yesterday learning how to import Greymatter format web journal entries into my new software, Movable Type.
In the process, I realized that there was some malicious comment spam clogging up some of my old sherwood.nu Web site. Roughly two thirds of all the sherwood.nu files kept on Ben's server were links to payday loan info or online poker games.
Because the comment spam was so voluminous, I eventually decided not to import any of the comments posted through Greymatter. It's too bad, as there were some good ones.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 08:02 AM | Comments (0)
February 12, 2005
replacement coming
Sherwood.nu's days are numbered. But fear not, a newer, better replacement is on the way.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 01:13 AM | Comments (0)
February 10, 2005
new movie
My parents, and brothers Morgan and probably Darcy may understand my excitement about this, but I seriously doubt anyone else will.Very few people were raised on repeated airings of the BBC production of "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" as young children, then handed the complete works of Douglas Adams to peruse in their teenage years. I am one of those people.I doubt this new movie will live up to the campy British standards established way back when, but I have hope that it will be at least semi-decent.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 10:28 AM | Comments (0)
February 06, 2005
garment bag
I'm driving to Olympia for a three-day work-related trip early tomorrow morning. With my most professional-looking suits packed, I find myself longing for a garment bag for the first time in my life.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 10:34 PM | Comments (0)
February 04, 2005
endorsement
What does "Million Dollar Baby" have in common with the other great movies I've seen in the last five years? They all have small casts and all focus on the minutia of daily life and the different ways love succeeds and fails through hardship. Think: "The Station Agent," "Monster's Ball," "The Good Girl," "Lantana."I'll let Ebert set it up for you. After introducing the basic plot elements, Ebert praises the movie's lighting, cinematography, acting and script.The movie also has a few of those things us analytical English major types tend to like, as well, including character development and thematic parallels.Ben had a few suspension-of-disbelief moments over how the boxing matches were scored, but I know little enough about the sport that I didn't notice anything awry.My only concern now is that "Million Dollar Baby" will so far outshine the rest of the films on my must-see list that I won't get as much pleasure out of them as I would have before Clint Eastwood sauntered onto the screen.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 09:59 PM | Comments (0)
February 01, 2005
I love refunds.
Yay, I filed my state and federal taxes! Now I've just got to take care of the tax software rebates and the county income taxes. Then I can just wait for my refunds.I love refunds.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 10:30 PM | Comments (0)
January 29, 2005
I love land-use planning
I know this is crazy, but I absolutely love reading land-use planning documents. I've been reading the Portland Transportation Office's concept plan for Burnside, a major street in Portland that runs not too far from where I live.You have to take any of these proposed developments with a grain of salt. Things always seem to change -- including timelines, cost estimates, and key features of the plan. Still, it's exciting to imagine what a city might look like one day.Maybe growing up in Reston, a planned community developed in the '60s, fueled my enthusiasm for land use. Now I'm living in Portland, which has a very aggressive and cutting edge approach to community development. And I'm working in Longview, an early planned city and former company town, now struggling to determine how the founder's vision will mesh with modern demands.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 06:04 PM | Comments (0)
like to inflate any rolls for me?
I clicked on the article because it was one of a number I've seen from the Washington Post lately with ridiculous headlines. But I read it because it was hilariously written and a truly odd story. Give it a read: Boy Scouts Suspected of Inflating Rolls.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 12:37 AM | Comments (0)
January 26, 2005
I do love oatmeal
Oh my god, I love oatmeal!
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 11:46 PM | Comments (0)
January 23, 2005
my online absence
I've been busy reading, working and chilling with Ben, and I've fallen down on my online correspondence. Sorry about that.I've got a great line-up of books to read, coming out of Christmas. Already I've finished Life of Pi and Eats, Shoots and Leaves, which went by rather quickly. I'm also working on the debt-reduction book Pay It Down, but that one will stall for the next month while I record every penny I spend in a small notebook in my purse, so I can better understand my spending habits.Next: Will in the World, a biography of Shakespeare that uses extrapolation to try to flesh out some of the missing details from his life. Then I'll read The Smartest Guys in the Room, which will be the second book I'll have read about the Enron debacle. Last in my lineup is Under the Banner of Heaven, popular among my journalist friends and compared on the dust-jacket to In Cold Blood, so my hopes are high.Except for Life of Pi, these are all non-fiction books. From the age of 7, when I fell in love with reading, until I graduated from college at 22, almost all of the hundreds of books I chose to devour were fiction. I read heaps of non-fiction in my classes, of course, and generally enjoyed it. Still, it surprises me that my reading habits have changed so drastically in the past four and a half years. I think the low-quality of much of modern "literature" is to blame, sadly. Most of the fiction I've enjoyed over the past year or two has been around for a while -- Faulkner, Greene, Dostoyevsky. There are a lot of easy-to-read and entertaining new novels out there, but not very many with strong prose, good plots, and stimulating themes. The New Yorker has published a few good short stories by Japanese authors lately. Maybe after my current round of books I'll see if any of those authors' novels have been translated into English.Of course, maybe my turn to non-fiction is about more than the dearth of quality new English-language novels out there. Now that I'm out of school, maybe I've just taken it upon myself to continue learning as much as I can about everything in the world.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 12:21 PM | Comments (0)
January 15, 2005
blunt force drama to the head
It is raining ice on to the street. We've been indoors all day. A half-inch of ice coats the roads, the sidewalk and everything else. The mail didn't come today. Ben and I watched figure skating earlier today -- the US Championships are only a few miles away. I would not have wanted to venture out in this weather to go see them, however.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 08:22 PM | Comments (0)
breaking the "don't write about work" rule
If you're motivated to eat better by the new US dietary guidelines widely touted yesterday, NIH offers a neat way to track what you eat.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 01:04 AM | Comments (0)
January 12, 2005
playing with toys and cats.
In 2005, I have been drying a lot of foods. I have dehydrated an apple, a pear, a banana and a whole lot of celery. Right now I'm drying an onion and a delicata squash.I got a lot of cool toys for Christmas.Meanwhile, I'm trying to improve my physical and financial well-being.As a result, I have been keeping busy drying foods, playing with toys, running and creating budgets.Compared to Jazzy, Mister is a very chubby cat in the Lincoln-Sherwood household. But after visiting my parents' enormous cats, Mister seems so small and cute these days. Jazzy is downright scrawny.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 11:42 PM | Comments (0)
January 04, 2005
back online
And thus, after a week of darkness, sherwood.nu was reborn. Sorry about my online absence. The cable modem failed on us, and it took a while to make repairs at home.I am now in Reston, Virginia. The trip was unpleasant -- I vow never to fly AmericaWest again -- but I've got five days here, and I'm having a great time catching up with East Coast friends and family. This is my first unhurried vacation since I moved to Portland. Unfortunately, some of the calmness is because there are fewer friends to catch up with this year, as some are on their own distant adventures (of medicine, of the heart) .I've got lots of thoughts zooming around in my head right now, but lately this web site has been a bit too quotidien, so I'm going to censor myself. Instead a prediction of the days ahead: woozy celebration; to Leesburg, to Leesburg, to make a deposit; puns and conversation; then back to Ben and the cats and three full days for recovery.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 10:20 AM | Comments (0)
December 27, 2004
a tale of two papers
Why do I love the Washington Post more than the New York Times? Consider each paper's coverage of yesterday's tsunami tragedy. The Times has the facts. The Post transports you to the scene, with writing so good it makes me shudder.The Times: The world's most powerful earthquake in 40 years erupted underwater off the Indonesian island of Sumatra on Sunday and sent walls of water barreling thousands of miles, killing more than 19,000 people in half a dozen countries across South and Southeast Asia, with thousands more missing or unreachable.The earthquake, which measured 9.0 in magnitude, set off tsunamis that built up speeds of as much as 500 miles per hour, then crashed into coastal areas of Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Indonesia, the Maldives and Malaysia as 40-foot-high walls of water, devouring everything and everyone in their paths.The Post: A gargantuan earthquake centered off the western end of the Indonesian archipelago unleashed a series of tsunamis Sunday that crashed into coastal towns, fishing villages and tourist resorts from Sri Lanka to India, Thailand and Malaysia, killing about 20,000 people in at least nine countries and leaving thousands missing. ...Walls of water as high as 30 feet littered the shorelines of southern Asian countries with death and debris. The toll was most devastating along the coasts of Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India, where hundreds of bodies washed back ashore and entire villages were demolished.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 09:29 AM | Comments (0)
merry absence
Sorry about that, if you tried to check this page out over the past few days. Web troubles at the old homestead seem to have sorted themselves out, but there was some downtime.I had a wonderful Christmas, and it's a good thing. I was getting very stressed out and grumpy about the holiday. It is a screwy day for someone like me. A spiritual holiday for some, but I am not a spiritual person. It's also very much a holiday of greed and consumption. Leading up to the 25th, I found myself excited about giving and receiving and also uncomfortable about how much all of my feelings about the day seemed tied up with getting new stuff. I did get new stuff, of course, and I'm very pleased with all of it. I am most pleased, not by how much anything cost or by whether it filled a need or want, but by how much thought people seem to have put into trying to make me happy. That's a gift that doesn't require any money at all.Late Christmas evening I found myself watching "It's a Wonderful Life," and I noticed some pretty obvious themes in the perennial holiday movie. Doing good is more important than doing well was one. A perhaps more controversial theme: keeping small, local businesses alive in the face of outside competition and takeover bids benefits everyone in a community, according to the movie. And of course: family and friendships matter more than all wordly things. They're not exactly holiday-specific, but I was glad to be reminded of some real values on Christmas day.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 09:15 AM | Comments (0)
December 24, 2004
in honor of the ...
In honor of the holidays, I present to you scary Santas and a visit from St. Nicholas.Merry X-mas.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 05:09 PM | Comments (0)
December 22, 2004
My newspaper ran it.
I don't like how it was posted all run together, but it's worthwhile to scroll down past the article to read Laura Schlenker Geforos' dispatch from Mosul. Merry Christmas to her.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 03:31 PM | Comments (0)
December 18, 2004
Adding insult to injury.
I've been summoned twice in the past two months. Jury summons one, received in November, Circuit Court of the State of Oregon for Multnomah County, start date is Feb. 7. Jury summons two, received today, Circuit Court of the State of Oregon for Multnomah County, start date is Jan. 10 -- only three weeks notice.There are different juror numbers and different panel IDs for each, but both have my correct full name and address. Both also state that I could easily be expected to serve for six or more consecutive weeks, which means that I could be weighing in on two trials at once.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 08:26 PM | Comments (0)
December 17, 2004
Annals of late night TV
I just picked "Office Space" off my cable TV menu and changed the channel. What I found instead was "Alien." What a shocking mental leap that was to make.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 11:51 PM | Comments (0)
car woes
Last night my engine gave out in the middle of three eastbound lanes on the Morrison Bridge. You might have heard them talking about me on the rush hour traffic reports. Once a police officer found me and turned on his flashing lights, people stopped flicking me off, honking and swearing at me. The police officer also couldn't figure out how to turn my engine on, and confirmed that my gear shift was locked in park. About a half hour later a tow truck driver arrived. He moved to Portland from Chicago last week, and had a hard time figuring out which bridge was the Morrison. He charged me an exhorbitant fee to take me to the service center. Apparently it costs more when they are called in by the cops.This month I've spent about $270 more on car-trouble related expenses than I bring home in a two-week paycheck. Ben was very gracious about paying for the most expensive bill for me, and letting me pay him back interest-free as I can afford it, so I haven't really gone into new credit card debt. My parents also gave me some money, which covered about a third of the costs so far. I feel like someone punched me right in the Christmas spirit.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 10:58 AM | Comments (0)
December 16, 2004
fuck
The car is in the shop again.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 09:37 PM | Comments (0)
December 13, 2004
chillin'
I have today off work. My plans: do nothing for 14 hours, then sleep.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 09:19 AM | Comments (0)
December 12, 2004
Hello, stranger
I just read Camus' "L'etranger" ("The Stranger), which shares some surprising parallels with "Moll Flanders." Both are first-person narratives told by criminals of questionable morality. Both were written by former journalists with strong views of personal morality. The books are more different than they are alike, however. One is a morality tale set in 1600s England and America and tells the story of a full life; the other unfolds over a few months in 1940s Algeria and is devoid of all morality.Online, I have found essays and commentary about "The Stranger," which focus on its existentialist underpinnings. Most of the existentialist works I've been read have been absurd, which "The Stranger" is not. This book seems like a realistic portrayal of a detached atheist's experiences. I'm guessing there are more detached atheists roaming about and proclaiming their opinions now than there were 60 years ago. This could even partially be because of the existential movement, for all I know. Cultural change over time must account for my non-existential reading of the novella.The storytelling is good, and so is the writing in the translation that I encountered. That's enough for me. I don't need a book to blow my mind to win a favored spot on my shelves. Most of the best writers are pretty bad philosophers in my judgement, anyhow. And vice versa.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 10:27 PM | Comments (0)
December 11, 2004
Moll Flanders
I just finished "Moll Flanders," by Daniel Defoe -- set in the 1600s, published in the 1700s, but in some ways a very modern tale. The narrator is a woman who winds up sleeping with something like 13 men, marrying several without divorcing any, settling twice in America but returning to England each time, and popping out babies left and right. It's a wild story."Moll Flanders" is particularly interesting because of what it says about women, childbearing, money, and sex during an era very distant from the 21st CenturyWomen in the 17th Century didn't have many opportunities to define their own lives. If they weren't independently wealthy or raised from birth to be slavish servants, their options for survival were few: marry well, become a whore, depend on charity, steal, or starve. At various times throughout the book, the narrator of "Moll Flanders" does all of these things but starve.It's fascinating how well Defoe is able to get across Moll's crazy sex life, childbearing, prostituting, cheating and her fear of disease without ever saying anything explicit. He didn't have a choice -- the book was scandalous in its day as it was. Without a single bad word or anatomical detail, he is able to relay a wealth of information. It's a lesson many propegators of today's lewd culture could stand to learn from.I still don't understand how money worked in the 1600s, when capitalism was on the rise but not quite the same creature it has become today. At once point the main character blows through more than 1,000 pounds in just a few weeks. Later she makes a comment that by living frugally in the country she could spend the rest of her days as a gentlewoman, with only 500 pounds on hand. Some people were born to weath, others never dared aspire to it. Having enough money on hand, however, could buy repreive from the death penalty and could open even more doors than cash opens today.When this book was written contraception didn't exist, and it's incredible how much pregnancy becomes an issue for the main character. I didn't keep track, but I'm sure she had more than a dozen children, many of whom died early in life. I've recently read a few commentaries by conservatives who bemoan our modern understanding of sex without consequences. The consequences of sex for Moll Flanders are a major issue from her late teens into her early 40s. It seems as though pregnancy, not morality, compelled many of her contemporaries to be less sexually active than she was.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 04:53 PM | Comments (0)
December 08, 2004
mooching minnies
Susan and I played big time moochers yesterday and tonight, though I think I win the moocher award, since I even mooched off of her.Last night her trendy hotel re-christened its rennovated restaurant, unveiling a mural of Portland celebrities. We crashed it for free wine and appetizers. Then I let Susan pay for dinner.Tonight Susan scored even more free wine at a work-affiliated Christmas party. Then we both mooched off the hospitality of a random NE Portland stranger we met. Then I let Susan pay for dinner.Casey dropped by to show off wedding photos and we all mooched off the free hotel decaf.Lest anyone get the wrong impression, the mooching has been nice but the real fun has been the eating and the drinking. A few more weeks of this top-level mooching, however, and I might actually be able to pay off my fuel pump replacement. Too bad Susan's leaving town tomorrow, and not just because she's a good moochee and companion in mooching. She's a good friend to have around.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 11:53 PM | Comments (0)
December 05, 2004
hitch
This was a fun, but ultimately stressful, weekend.Susan came to visit. We watched several movies, hosted a dinner party, played photo touch at a bar, pinochled, caught up on old times and skied. Ben, Rian and Ryan joined us for various entertainments. We should have called Casey and Aaron too, but somehow life got ahead of us.Disaster struck Sunday night. After pulling over to remove the chains from my tires on the way back from skiing, I found my engine unwilling to start. Twenty or thirty minutes of sitting in a cold dark car later, the engine woke up and we made it back to Portland without a hitch. We even made it to made it to dinner without a hitch.Then we headed to Susan's downtown Portland hotel. Hitch. Hitch. Hitch.Hitch one: The hotel wasn't where mapquest said it would be.Hitch two: Circling downtown, the car died again.Hitch three: After rebirth, the car died AGAIN before I could even get home.Ben proved to be the hero of the evening. He rescued us from the broken down car, took Susan to the hotel, came up with a stop-gap measure to get my car driving again, escorted me to the dealership, drove me home, introduced me to black Russians, and showed me some very silly dances.So it looks like I'll be in a rental for a few more days. Whatever bill accompanies this next round of repairs will surely not be celebrated with a splurge at the grocery store. I'm trying to stay upbeat. This was an fun weekend with a good friend, followed by a nice night with a nice guy. Not so bad, really.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
December 03, 2004
how can I survive?
I've over done it again, I think. I told Rian I could meet her downtown at 6:30 for dinner tonight, but that's a nearly impossible squeeze. And then I'm supposed to finish cleaning. And Susan gets in after that -- yes, that's right, Susan is visiting. And I never booked the tickets to take the bus to go skiing this weekend, which I desperately would like to do.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 05:44 PM | Comments (0)
December 01, 2004
a little better now
Things have turned out OK with the car. The problem seems to have fixed itself, and I'm out only about $50 for maintenance and a one-day rental.I was so exhilerated when I learned that car problems would not be breaking the bank that I went bonkers and spent $80 on groceries, which is about twice what I normally spend.One of the best consequences of my supermarket spending spree: a bottle of Francis Ford Coppola Claret. Mmmmm. Coppola really knows his vinology.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 11:48 PM | Comments (0)
November 29, 2004
bummer
My car's computer is malfunctioning and I'm stuck at home today. With the word from the mechanic that he may not be able to get the car up and running by end of business, I've reserved a rental car for tomorrow. I'm trying to make the best of things by making solid progress on Christmas presents. All of the materials are on hand, but I don't know if I can combine the yarn/thread/fabric/paint/wood/etc. into desireable gifts for all of my friends and family in three and a half weeks.The cats are making the most of my at-home activities. Everytime I sit at a computer, Jazzy hops into my lap and purrs. Mister, who finds nothing more pleasurable than sitting on paper, is delighted to have flimsy pattern paper to sit upon while I sew.This would be a great time for my wealthy web site fans to emerge from years of silent admiration and present me with great gobs of cash as an early Christmas present.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 01:36 PM | Comments (0)
November 27, 2004
knock on my thick, wooden skull
I wrote this earlier today, as part of a planned web journal entry about about Thanksgiving: I am grateful for a lot of things every day. With my family, job, boyfriend, cats and friends, it's hard to imagine life getting better than it is right now. True dat.Case in point: Today I drove 50 miles to work. Once I got there, I had to go on several work-related errands, so I ended up driving another 15 or 20 miles. Then I drove 50 miles back to Portland.How can I turn all this driving into an occasion to give thanks?I am grateful that my car engine waited until I was only a few blocks from home before it decided to conk out. I am also grateful that some nice strangers helped me push it out of the road to a nice parking lot and didn't turn out to be serial killers when I got in their van and let them drive me home. It would have sucked to get stuck on an empty stretch of middle-of-nowhere highway in sub-freezing temperatures late at night with no cell phone after a long day on the job. It would also have sucked to push the car alone. And it would have sucked to be massacred by serial killers.So really, I have a lot more things to be grateful for than I would have ever guessed.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 10:53 PM | Comments (0)
November 22, 2004
The season is upon us.
I really want to post pictures of all the crazy and exciting stuff I'm making for people for Christmas this year, but that would defeat the purpose. I've developed many new creative skills in the past few months. I'm thinking about trying to make more of this stuff, to sell at Last Thursday or other arty/crafty events around Portland -- starting maybe in spring. We'll see. I've got to meet my holiday gift goals first.I am looking forward to Thanksgiving. I need to take some time to be thankful.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 07:35 PM | Comments (0)
November 20, 2004
rollercoaster, bayyybee
This is the article I worked so hard on last week.This is how I feel about it today.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 12:09 PM | Comments (0)
meditations on disease (medications on disease to come later)
Rian wants me to write something clever about the basketball game we attended tonight, but right now I'm just trying to breathe comfortably.After reading several web sites about the difference between a cold and the flu, I've convinced myself this is a cold. But it's one miserable hell of a cold.I'm not sure if it's Oregon's climate or just a sign of an already-aging immune system, but it seems as though I've been getting sick a lot more than I used to in the past few years. Life seems to be happening more quickly, too, though, so maybe it just seems like I get sick more often because of changes in how I perceive time.I feel like I kind of brought this cold on myself. I worked really hard this week, putting in longer-than-usual hours. Then I went out after work tonight and screamed myself silly when the Blazers won. No wonder I'm a mess right now.At least I've got Ben, who is willing to go out to the 24-hour drug store in the middle of the night when his girlfriend is feeling sick to buy symptom-alleviating pills and powders.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 02:19 AM | Comments (0)
November 18, 2004
disgusting, but good
Today I am feeling disgusting, but good.I'm sneezy, sore, congested, and in a lot of ways I just want to crawl back in bed and forget about life for a day or two.But I'm too excited about work to stay home. I'm also excited about going to the Blazers game tomorrow night. And I'm excited about some new possibilities my brother Morgan introduced to me this week.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 08:22 AM | Comments (0)
November 16, 2004
life of me
Already this week I have learned new things about the word "affect" and also about federal regulations surrounding hydoelectric power generators. One of these things I learned while watching "Law and Order," the other while at work.Tonight my coworkers went out for beer. I was invited, but I had to cover a presentation about the relicensing process that a local utility must go through to continue to run its hydro project. Here's the thing: I'm bummed that I didn't get to hang out with the coworkers, but I actually enjoyed the presentation.Other things about my life in the past few months that I may not have communicated very well to everybody: Ben and I still plan to move to Woodland, Washington, but not until May at this point; I will be traveling to Northern Virginia on Jan. 1 and returning to Portland on January 6; although I was hired as a business reporter and spent a few weeks focusing on Mount St. Helens, I am now covering state politics and public utilities; with a few exceptions, I am making almost all of the X-mas presents I'll be giving this year by hand; I don't know how long I'll continue this web site for, but I hope to keep it up at least through the holidays; things are going really well, living with Ben and working my new job.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 11:28 PM | Comments (0)
close vote
This will obviously change as the final votes are tallied, but right now there's only a 20 vote margin seperating the two candidates for Washington governor. 1,365,741 votes for Democrat Christine Gregoire. 1,365,721 for Republican Dino Rossi.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 05:23 PM | Comments (0)
November 13, 2004
the future of .nu
I've been thinking about changing the nature of sherwood.nu, discontinuing the web journal and just turning it into a journalist's vanity page. Increasingly I find myself censoring my own posts as I reflect on how they might look to those who I interview or who read my articles.Maybe I'll even discontinue the .nu site all together and buy a .com domain.If I do stop posting here, I may start e-mailing out a weekly digest of my life to anyone interested. It would include random thoughts about the universe, info about what I'm up to and links to articles and web sites I find interesting -- in short, much of the same stuff I'd otherwise be posting here.Any thoughts or feedback?
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 02:32 PM | Comments (0)
November 12, 2004
nice life
It's nice to realize that despite my back ache and occasional stress, I have a really good life.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 09:44 PM | Comments (0)
November 10, 2004
inside someone else's world for a change
My guess? The CIA is going to obtain new information when its agents read this.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 09:59 PM | Comments (0)
November 07, 2004
under attack
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 04:14 PM | Comments (0)
November 06, 2004
sore back, cooked food.
Today I went ice skating with two coworkers and a child. I like the child, and I want to be friends with the coworkers. I fell down.Now my back hurts.I have been trying to teach myself how to make potato chips in the oven, after easily picking up the art of French fry making. Early potato chip experiments have met with mixed success. Tonight I try again for the third time.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 05:43 PM | Comments (0)
November 03, 2004
the world's eyes upon us.
The world was watching last night and this morning. What did global journalists think of the U.S. election and its coverage in the media?From Poland: [O]ur democracy is in infancy while that of the United States may have entered a mid-life crisis of some sort. From Kenya: Given that the war was a major campiagn issue this time round, I expected the US media to do a bit more in terms of bringing out the true human cost of the war instead of relying heavily on unsupported criticism by the candidates of each other's position on the war. From Uganda: The biggest sins in coverage have occurred on TV, where talking head types substitute serious information with clueless mirth that they call punditry. We need to get these out of mainstream media.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 12:46 PM | Comments (0)
November 02, 2004
voting rundown.
So the various TV stations are not releasing their exit polling data until each state's polls are closed, which is a good thing, I guess. Except that the countdown on CNN tells me that I have to wait 4 hours, and I don't want to wait that long.I apparantly have brothers registered to vote in New York and Ohio, in addition to my Virginia parents and my Oregon self. Lots of Sherwoods are voting today. In each presidential race from 1996 through 2012, another of my parents' offspring will get to cast his or her first executive branch vote.In extended family news, my cousin and his wife and daughter have fled the DC area after casting their ballots, for fear that something terrible will happen today or tomorrow. They're more afraid of terrorism than rioting, I am informed.I'm working late tonight, which means I'm not supposed to go in to the office for at least another hour or two. The good news: they're buying us pizza. The bad news: I don't want to wait another hour or two; I'd rather be at work than home alone with the cats.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 11:14 AM | Comments (0)
October 30, 2004
Colosso waste of time? That would be too harsh. But not worth any more time.
After dining at Colosso, I have to say that tapas -- small appetizer-like dishes shared family-style to create a meal -- are not for me. Each dish was good on its own, but family-style dining depends on dishes complimenting one another. We ordered a spicy tomato-based soup, sugary toasted nuts and quiche-like eggs. The combination didn't work, and I'm not sure that any other menu choices would have been better together. My warm spicy cinnamon-drenched cocktail and Ben's fruity, fizzy gin drink were also good, but neither fit with the disparate small Spanish dishes we had before us.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 11:00 PM | Comments (0)
October 28, 2004
Ebu Gogo
More about the tiny humans:Henry Gee, a senior editor of the journal Nature, has said, "Of course it could explain all kinds of legends of the little people — They are almost certainly extinct, but it is possible that there are creatures like this around today. Large mammals are still being found. I don't think the likelihood of finding a new species of human alive is any less than finding a new species of antelope, and that has happened." (Emphasis added.)See also: Ebu Gogo.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 09:16 PM | Comments (2)
October 27, 2004
you guessed it.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 08:45 PM | Comments (0)
October 26, 2004
planning for the election
It's time to start planning for the election and its aftermath, if you haven't already. I'll be covering it late Tuesday and however long it takes Wednesday.If you get excited about voting, democracy or politics and you don't have a job with election-related obligations, you should consider your Tuesday and Wednesday plans.I recommend casting your ballot this week, if your state offers early voting. If early voting is not an option, be sure to schedule a block of time when you know you can vote. You don't want to wait in line for an hour then leave without casting your ballot because your lunch break is up. Turnout is expected to reach record levels, so you should plan for long lines. Many jurisdictions do not require you to present photo ID to vote, but I suggest you bring your license, just in case.Do you want to be alone when you watch the results come in, or with others? If you want to be with others, start thinking about getting a few two-liters of soda, some salsa, some chips. Maybe even beer and DiGiorno pizza.Do you want to stay with it until a winner is called? It could be days. Instead of calling in sick on Wednesday, why don't you just plan to take the day off? If the results are resolved earlier than expected, you can use your vacation day celebrating or mourning.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 09:13 PM | Comments (0)
October 25, 2004
hungry voter.
Ben and I filled out our ballots today. I'm gonna cast them at the local election office on the way in to work. Hopefully that will get us off whatever canvassers list has people knocking and ringing several times a day. On Halloween, a bunch of people in Portland are going door to door to encourage ballot casting through Trick or Vote. Zoinks.Since I'm not allowed to eat today (cholesterol blood test in the afternoon), I though I'd spend my breakfast time watching Good Morning America's hyped interview of President Bush. Apparently they aren't showing the whole interview at once, though, they're showing snippets throughout the show. It's interspersed with sappy crap. Right now they're interviewing an ice skater. Later they'll show Tommy Lee talk about the "rock and roll lifestyle." I'm not sure I can take the stupid crap we're supposed to suffer to get to the meat of the show, though. Maybe I'll go to work early.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 08:09 AM | Comments (0)
October 24, 2004
lazy and gay
Tonight I read two interesting articles about families, one in the Washington Post and one in the New York Times.I worked last Sunday and today this week, but had Monday and Tuesday off. I really enjoyed not working Monday or Tuesday, but I did not enjoy working Sunday or Saturday. Is this evidence that I am lazy? It could be, or maybe it's generational as the Post suggests.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 12:23 AM | Comments (0)
October 20, 2004
game night
I swear, my entire life before I met Ben I never cared about sports. Here I am, watching the Red Socks vs. the Yankess and getting really excited in the seventh inning. What happened?
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 08:01 PM | Comments (0)
October 17, 2004
like butter
Apparently researchers have found that Americans worry more about food and derive less pleasure from eating than people in any other nation they surveyed. In refutation of that sentiment, I am going to eat butter. Of course, I don't need a sentiment to refute to eat butter. Especially with salt. And pepper. And starch. Sheesh, you crazy fellow-Americans, live a little.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 09:22 PM | Comments (0)
October 14, 2004
politics
The cnn.com headline for the presidential debate specifically about domestic issues: "Domestic issues dominate debate." How enlightening.I guess Oregon's vote-by-mail ballots go out tomorrow. I am well aware of the dangers of voting early--if something happens late in the race, early voters don't have the opportunity to change their minds based on the new information. But with people ringing our doorbell several times a week to make sure we are registered, aligned with their causes and dedicated to voting, I think I may just get my name crossed off their lists as soon as I can this year.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 08:32 AM | Comments (0)
October 10, 2004
cinematic distortion; a busy day
Today I discovered that Ben and I apparently have "on demand" movies through our cable provider, which means that there are hundreds of movies that we can select from a list and watch whenever we want for free.First I watched "Emma," based on the Jane Austen first generation chick lit novel. It was what it was.Then I watched "Scottland, Pa.," based on Macbeth. The presentation of the first act was slow and unbelievable, but by the end the movie actually brought the modernized Shakespeare plot to life more than any other performance I've seen.Finally, Ben and I watched, "Murder in the First," which was the best done movie of the lot. It claims to be based on a true story, but I gather that except for a few names and the location it was pretty much all fabricated. Such movies make me wonder how much of my understanding of history and literature is based on cinematic distortion.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 10:52 PM | Comments (0)
October 06, 2004
so fun, eruptions
I have learned a lot about volcanoes, recently. It's been quite fun.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 06:21 PM | Comments (0)
October 05, 2004
Two cool things (but one is a person, not a thing)
Two cool things: Haunted houses and Gwen Ifill.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 06:08 PM | Comments (0)
October 03, 2004
great writing
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 10:56 AM | Comments (0)
October 01, 2004
Mount St. Helens
Today I flew toward an erupting volcano.A pilot with three years experience drove. Another Cesna, carrying a photographer, followed us.Our partner plane had engine trouble as we neared the mountain. The pilot, with a shaky voice, said he was turning back and looking for flat land in case he needed to make an emergency landing. We followed, keeping him in sight until we knew he was safe.Then we returned to the mountain. We flew through a haze of yellow sulferic cloud, until we saw the recently disheveled crater.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 10:24 PM | Comments (0)
September 30, 2004
movie review before Alberta Arts
This movie review left me feeling more intrigued about the person who wrote it than about the movie. It's a fascinating jumble of thesis and allusion.I've been having a good week at work, I'm feeling happy, I'm going out.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 08:18 PM | Comments (0)
king for a day (or a moment, while peeing)
I've been wanting to read King Lear for a while, but with all the newspapers, web sites, magazines and contemporary books I try to get through it has been hard to find the time. Until now.I've propped my Complete Works of William Shakespeare open on the bathroom counter, with a deodorant roller keeping the book open to the right page. Whenever I go in to brush my teeth or mess with my hair I read a few lines. So far I've made it into Act II. Even though my reading sessions are brief and sometimes seem disjointed, I can actually follow what's going on. And I like it.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 05:57 AM | Comments (0)
September 27, 2004
music and math
I forgot to mention the symphony. "The Right of Spring." Good stuff.It's been seven years since I've done calculus. Today a scientist was trying to explain in journalist-ese how geologists measure the rate of change of seismic readings. I blurted, "It's like derivatives." And he said, "It is derivatives." He seemed surprised and pleased that at least one person of the dozens who'd interviewed him that day understood the mathematical concept underlying his life's work. I kind of miss math, sometimes. I think I had a natural instinct for it, though not the temperament to apply myself.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 09:56 PM | Comments (0)
September 26, 2004
don't feed the trolls
There's an expression on message boards: "Don't feed the trolls." Trolls are people who aim to derail conversation, through outrageous, inflamatory or off-topic comments.In a discussion of the latest Bush Air National Guard news blip, someone made the comment, "Karl Rove is trolling us. Let's not feed him."In other words, political operatives like Karl Rove are polluting the public discourse by flooding it with the outrageous, inflamatory or off-topic. Not just Rove, politics is dirty on both sides of the aisle. And all of us--reporters, analysts, bloggers, and just general thinkers--are feeding the trolls when we focus on off-topic controversy instead of participating in conversation.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 03:57 PM | Comments (0)
September 25, 2004
Shaun of the living (I'm such an English major)
If Thoreau were going to write a satirical 21st century zombie movie, I think he'd write "Shaun of the Dead."It's a movie about people sleepwalking through their days, trapped despite occasional efforts to break out of life's quiet desperation. They pursue escape through materialism and artifice. They don't live deeply in the world around them.Then zombies invade.Some characters are jolted into hyper-awareness by the battle against rapid brain-eating monsters, but others weather the crisis with the sleepwalker's veil intact.When the movie ends, the zombie attack has served as a very different sort of Walden, a test that leaves our heros awake and appreciative of the world around them.Other than watching this movie with Rian and Ryan, some other events in my recent life:- I have made two pop-culture cross stich creations. One is of Mario running. The other is top secret.- I got an envelope in the mail today with the words "FREE PANTY OFFER!" printed on the outside.- Dirty hippies were smoking pot in the driveway. They asked us if we were registered to vote, then chuckled and sauntered off.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 12:32 AM | Comments (0)
September 23, 2004
A few years ago I
A few years ago I bought a bread machine for $5 at a yard sale. It took me a couple of tries to realize that it's a flawed bread machine, and you have to stir up the ingredients before you dump them in or all the liquid will leak out.At this point, I have mastered the magic of making bread.It's a good thing. Ben and I are low on food, but determined not to go to the grocery store. With nothing to toast, microwave or fry, we've had to resort to combining ingredients that would be unpalatable on their own to create food items. It's a process I like to call cooking.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 12:25 AM | Comments (0)
September 20, 2004
ready ... no, not.
These ready.gov commercials on TV have been spooking me. They tell us that if we get a kit, make a plan and become informed will will be safe from all manner of threats. It's like telling grade school children to hide under picnic blankets to protect themselves from nuclear blasts.Are we in another cold war? Cold War II? It's hard to believe we're supposed to think and act in the manner suggested by the Department of Homeland Security. Life is stressfull enough. Then I head to ready.gov and I read the message:Get a kit. Make a Plan. Be Informed (about what might happen: biological threat, chemical threat, explosions, nuclear blast, radiation threat).
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 11:41 PM | Comments (0)
honk truck
Today I got honked at. Twice. I don't quite understand it, but for at least the last week and a half I have had a truck toot it's horn as I pass it on the way too or from work. I don't usually pay close attention to large semi-hauling trucks, but I am beginning to suspect I have been being honked at by the same truck--a green one--whose driver must run a regular route that matches my commute. It's odd.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 08:16 PM | Comments (0)
September 16, 2004
decoupage
The problem with decoupage is that I have no idea what I'm doing. I don't think I even get the basic concept.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 08:36 AM | Comments (0)
September 15, 2004
y'all're getting awesome X-mas presents
I just finished a massive knitting project. It went on for weeks. Every time I thought I was almost done, I would notice something else in the instructions. But now it's done.And I'm done knitting for a while.I think it's time for some decoupage.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 11:10 PM | Comments (0)
September 11, 2004
working hard
This was a tough week. I was too frenzied and not sufficiently efficient at work, and I'm not particularly happy with the work I did. Having to work Saturday didn't help. Still, I have the best job I've ever hard. It's much nicer to be frazzled from an imperfect week than to be miserable, overworked and unappreciated, which was my daily burden in the not-too-distant past.Today I missed the Belmont Street Fair, a mini-festival a few blocks from my apartment. I'm a bit disappointed, because I want to get as much life out of this city as I can while Ben and I still live here. Fortunately, there's another street fair a few blocks in the other direction tomorrow.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 11:19 PM | Comments (0)
September 06, 2004
moving around stuff
Ben and I toured Woodland, Washington, today. We will be moving there in the next few months, and wanted to get a feel for the place. It's a very small town--fewer than 8,000 residents. It seems like a nice town, but it's very small and very rural. It will be quite a change.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 11:15 PM | Comments (0)
September 05, 2004
knitting
I've embarked on a somewhat ambitious knitting project. Bad idea, as I am someone who likes instant gratification. I've been at it for more than two weeks. I spent all day knitting to get to the halfway point. I'm determined to finish this thing, but after it's over I think I'll take a break from the clackity clack.While knitting for a gazillion hours today I sat in front of the TV. My brain is feeling fried and scrambled from too much cable.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 02:30 AM | Comments (0)
September 01, 2004
interesting night
Best margarita you've ever had in a plastic cup in a plastic cup, lemons rolled in sugar, salt, interrupted moments, thrree dwarves (Exhuberant, Comatose and Sober) stop by to gut some fish.It's been an unusual week so far, and tonight kept me busy but I'm not sure it helped me settle anything.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 11:50 PM | Comments (0)
August 31, 2004
moving
Ben and I are talking about moving, probably in the November to January time period.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 11:18 PM | Comments (0)
August 27, 2004
I don't think it's about money
I keep dreaming about my teeth all out breaking off from the roots, one at a time, and not being able to stop it. It's graphic, painful and horrifying each time. Someone told me tooth loss dreams are about money, but I don't think mine are. I think mine are about how awful it would be to lose my teeth. Pretty awful, let me tell you.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 08:18 AM | Comments (0)
August 24, 2004
free!
From the freebee table at work today I got fresh cut dill, lemons from someone's backyard and a 12-pack of Pabst. Hope it doesn't turn out that the freebee table is really the "store your groceries here" table.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 06:59 PM | Comments (0)
When at a loss for conversation: weather; traffic; squirrels.
Winter in the Pacific Northwest, it rains. It starts around September or October and continues through May. Then in the summer, everything is dry. There are forest fires, even.So it rained for a little while yesterday--something like two inches. It rained for a little while today. Suddenly it's the wettest August on record. It's the lead story on the evening news.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 12:21 AM | Comments (0)
August 22, 2004
eating is crucial
This weekend I spent a lot of time eating too much rich and delicious food. I spent very little time exercising, although I did appreciate the physical fitness of others as I watched the Olympics. I feel full and happy.Eggs with coffee and toast, veggie burrito, fried peanut butter and banana sandwich, mint chocolate chip ice cream, angel food cake, rice crackers with cheese spread, eggs florentine, pizza, more mint chocolate chip ice cream.One of these things is not like the others. One of these things just doesn't belong. That's right, I was inspired by Elvis to eat a really disgusting meal that I will never repeat again. Do you know which food item I'm talking about?
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 07:53 PM | Comments (0)
August 20, 2004
Olympics
Gold medal for silliest Olympic event: the 20-kilometer walk. That's just of the Olympic events I've witnessed, of course. I don't doubt there are other contenders for the top silly spot.Ugly sooty black medal: washingtonpost.com and newyorktimes.com, for posting the results prominently on their web sites before they air on television. I'm forcing myself not to load these pages after about noon each day, because each time I do I get some other surprise that I'm not ready to know about yet.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 02:08 PM | Comments (0)
August 16, 2004
Lewis and Clark
This is why I was at the coast this weekend, though an editor transcribed my numbers to make it sound like a bigger gathering. About 470 people showed up, descendents of a two-centuries past expeditionary crew.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 05:37 PM | Comments (0)
I drive way too much
I stayed at Ben's grandparents' Astoria house Saturday night--without Ben. It was mostly a matter of convenience, as I had to work just across the river on Sunday. It was a full family event, though.The grandparents were celebrating their anniversary. In addition to Ben's parents, two of their other offspring and families stopped by, with kids and miniature dogs in tow. There were fireworks, even.Traffic was awful on the way home after a long Sunday working at the coast. What should have been two hours turned into three and a half. Then I got home and had to write on a fried brain.The weather was nice all weekend for walking, playing with puppies, strolling the beach, working, watching and interviewing. More and more I feel the temptation to get naked while driving long stretches home through the heat in my un-airconditioned car, though.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 12:42 AM | Comments (0)
August 14, 2004
Astoria, president, Long Beach (but not in that order)
I'm heading to Astoria shortly, for what I had hoped would be a nice day at the beach. The past two weekends, Astoria has seen sunny skies and warm air. Today it's in the 60s and raining. Hopefully the sea lions will at least be out, and I'll be able to listen to their arping. I plan to bring a book, a magazine, a newspaper and some knitting, so I'll have plenty of entertainment options.(As I have vowed to no longer write about work, please pretend that the following statements have nothing to do with my job.)Yesterday I attended a business-oriented invitation-only President Bush Rally. It was interesting. Now I've seen two consecutive presidents speak.Tomorrow I'm going to cross the mouth of the Columbia River to Long Beach, Wash., to witness the 450-person reunion of decendents of Lewis, Clark and their fellow expiditioners. Forcasts hint at improved weather, good news for the kite festival that kicks off in Long Beach this weekend.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 11:14 AM | Comments (0)
August 11, 2004
haxorz and love
The last two things I ever plan to post about my new job on this page:1. Our web site got hacked today. It was back up after a few minutes, but for a brief time all visitors to The Daily News got the message: "you shoulda nuked them all already! because I'm a monkey monkey monkey monkey monkey monkey monkey monkey monkey monkey monkey monkey monkey monkey monkey monkey monkey monkey monkey monkey monkey monkey monkey monkey monkey monkey monkey monkey monkey monkey monkey."2. I really love my new job.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 07:14 PM | Comments (0)
August 08, 2004
crazy projects
Fun, but messier than I would have imagined: Destruction of an Etch-A-Sketch. Even messier: destruction of two.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 03:40 PM | Comments (0)
August 06, 2004
beautiful words make me cry
I just finished "In Cold Blood." It is one of the most beautiful things I have ever read.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 10:33 PM | Comments (0)
August 04, 2004
spare hand, sore shoulder
While working on a story that ran today, I interviewed a woman who had been a paper machine tender, which is a supervisory position, when the machine she worked on was shut down. She became a spare hand, a physically strenuous entry-level job, on another machine. While working in her less prestigious new job, she injured her shoulder.I wanted to write, "She was a spare hand with a sore shoulder."Sadly, the line just didn't fit in an article about the health of the corrugated medium industry.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 10:54 AM | Comments (0)
August 02, 2004
my stories
Lookee what I did.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 11:44 AM | Comments (0)
another married friend.
Casey Rovito isn't a Rovito anymore. That's okay, though. She has a new husband, and he seems like a really good guy. Together they threw a mahvelous wedding.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 08:26 AM | Comments (0)
July 31, 2004
busy weekend
Laura's here this weekend on the leadup to Casey's wedding, which is tomorrow.Last night Laura, Rian and I went to the Fez Ballroom, where sketch comedy was followed by DJ dancing. The scene was full of hipsters, but for some reason they intimidated me less than usual.This morning some weird guy called me on the phone on behalf of one of the presidential candidates. I told him I planned on voting for the other candidate and we ended up getting into a 20-minute debate. Everytime I felt as though I had won a point he changed the subject. When he started trying to compare Iraq under Saddam to Germany under Hitler, he argued assertively that we invaded Germany and entered World War II long before Pearl Harbor. I couldn't take it any more, thanked him for the interesting conversation, and pledged to keep an open mind if he would do the same.We're getting off to a late start today, but I think Laura and I will find fun things to do. We're going to breakfast at the Cricket, then maybe to this thing called Flugtag. At 6 p.m. I'm dragging Laura along as my guest to an AYJ event that may turn out to be a flop. After that, I'm trying to have a dinner party, though I'm not sure if anyone will be there other than Ben and Laura. I think Rian will make it. And late tonight we're going out with Casey to celebrate her impending marriage and drink stuff.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 01:45 PM | Comments (0)
July 27, 2004
life on the new job
Two days down at the new job.Yesterday I showed up and pretty much started working with no training and no guidance. I was given 13 stories to work on, with no direction as to deadlines or priorities. Everything had to be done on a computer I couldn't log on to (no password) using a phone with no known return phone number and writing in a program I'd never heard of (Lotus Notes). I managed to hammer out a small brief, which ended up running as a bylined story.This morning my befuddlement continued. Without any idea what I should do, I decided to look for order on my own. I spent an hour or so messing with Lotus, which calls file folders "bins" and lets you "spike" stuff instead of deleting it. I still don't get it, but at least I don't get it less today than I didn't get it yesterday.I wanted to create a spreadsheet to help me plan out my remaining 12 stories. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any spreadsheet software on my computer, and if spreadsheets are a feature of Lotus it's news to me. So instead I tracked down a ruler and some computer paper and did it the old fashioned way. After I'd written out my list of stories, I came up with "to dos" for each, then broke them into three categories--easy to write, hard to write, and requiring moderate effort. Then I came up with a three week calendar that would allow me to get each article done.Just as I was finishing my hand-drawn spreadsheet I was finally able to get my editor's attention. He told me what to work on and when to do it by--welcome direction, even though it immediately rendered much of my morning chart-making invalid.As soon as I knew what to do it was time for our late morning staff meeting. When that got out I was invited to lunch with some coworkers.By the time I actually got started on my article, it was already early afternoon and I only had about four hours to pull the whole thing together. No surprise that it was a mess, then.This is where the beautiful thing about my new job begins. I turned the story in and it was edited. An actual editor, knowledgeable about local issues but not befuddled by hours trying to track people down and sort their words into a meaningful mass, looked at it and suggested changes. Yes! Now I know what I've been missing for the past two years.Since 2002, I've netted on third place, three second place and two first place awards in three journalism contests. Imagine the great heights of dinky journalism awards I could have achieved in that time with an editor.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 08:09 PM | Comments (0)
July 25, 2004
I'm at the Minneapolis-St. Paul
I'm at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport (MSP to those in the know), with not much to do for the next seven hours. Tomorrow is my first day of work and I'd hoped to fly out of here early so I'd be well rested, but the standby list is full. So I'm wasting $5 for my 15 minutes of Internet use, and then I'm going to read the September 11 Commission Report, which is apparently available on newsstands.Getting together with so many old friends was a lot of fun. Cathy and Gregg put together a beautiful and profound wedding, and they must have worked incredibly hard to accomodate their guests so flawlessly. I've only got 56 seconds left online, so no time to elaborate. But I'll be thinking deep thoughts about love, marriage and terrorism (the book, duh) as I wait for my flight to board.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 11:24 AM | Comments (0)
July 22, 2004
parting is such sweet sorrow
When I left the Fairfax Times I was torn. I was doing good work, getting recognition from my editors. I loved my job but I felt stuck in my life. I had hopes that I could move up the ranks to one of the paper's big-wig reporting jobs if I stayed long enough, and from there to a bigger and better publication. Hopping into Laura's four-door Taurus and sleeping in Wal-Mart parking lots for the next few months was probably not the wisest answer to my conundrum. I didn't know what else to do.Almost three and a half years later, I love my life. Laura and I drove across the country to a city where we had few friends, no job prospects, and dwindling cash resources. Today I have Ben, friends, a career and the prospect of being debt free in the foreseeable future. I'm better off than I've ever been. On Monday I'll start working at a respectable daily paper. I'll start meeting new sources, writing new stories. I'll have more time and more resources to commit to each story than I've ever had before, and I dream of doing great work.More often than not during my time at The Chronicle I was frustrated. A three-person editorial staff is simply not enough to put out a quality publication. My quixotic determination to work at a good paper regardless of reality's constraints had me out of bed before dawn and home after sunset every week for two years. No matter how hard I worked, the final product never seemed to warrant the amount of effort I put in. Then, as of Tuesday, 5 p.m., I packed up my belongings, wished my replacement luck, and closed that chapter of my life.So why do I feel so torn?
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 06:35 PM | Comments (0)
July 19, 2004
replacement
My replacement showed up around 9:30 a.m. today, my second to last in this office. She was interviewed and hired Saturday, so I didn't know to expect her until about half an hour before she arrived.I was worried. I hate teaching. I don't understand how it and its partner learning work. Learnign by doing seemed like a good approach, so after showing her around the office and introduced her to my coworkers, I set her to work. She wrote an article about growth at the local airport. She typed obituaries. I worked on other stories and on writing up my job tasks. My job is so much easier today. It's so much more manageable when two people are doing it.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 02:53 PM | Comments (0)
July 17, 2004
I want books
Hey everyone. You should buy me books. Please.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 07:05 PM | Comments (0)
July 16, 2004
wry-tar
I won first place for coverage of education for the second year in a row in the Oregon Better Newspaper Awards.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 06:00 PM | Comments (0)
Holey skirts, Batman!
Why do skirts always fall apart on me at work? Three years ago I arrived for my first day on the job at Paychex 20 minute early, only to have to flee the parking lot and buy a sewing kit when I realized my the zipper was separating from the seam.Six months ago the button at the top of another skirt's zipper fell off just as I was heading in to a job interview. I didn't think it would matter until about 20 minutes into the interview when I realized that, without a button to hold the whole fastener assemblage together, the zipper had no motivation to stay closed. By then my skirt had already slipped below my hipbone and the waistline was falling fast. I tightened my blazer and clamped my left arm to my side to hold the skirt in place for the rest of the interview, rather than acknowledge to a potential employer the wardrobe malfunction in progress.More recently I wore a homemade skirt to work. It was made from a woven synthetic fabric, and I hadn't sewn it along the grain line. Big mistake. The skirt rebelled, completely unravelling at the front and back seams and shedding large clumps of green nylon-like thread behind me as I ran to the bathroom to hide in shame. I had worn a calf-length coat to work that day, and I tightened it around me while I fled to Wal-Mart in search of a substitute skirt. Sewing doesn't really save any money when it forces you to buy things you wouldn't have otherwise.Today I wore one of my favorite skirts, purchased in spring of 2000. I wore it at my college graduation, along with a matching blue cardigan that long ago fell into tatters. I've lost some weight since college and now the skirt's too big for me. I still wear it, even though it rests lower on my hips than my hosiery. I just make sure to wear long-waisted shirts. Today is my last Friday on the job. A last Monday and a last Tuesday lie ahead, but after that I'm outta here. I'm having a working lunch with one of my co-workers so we can discuss the job tasks she'll be taking over in my absence. I dressed nicely for what will probably be our final meal together. Only not all that nicely, since apparently my lovely blue skirt has decided to turn ragged and ratty on me today. There are holes! I'm wearing a slip, so I'm not too indecently exposed. It's not a slip that could pass as a stand-alone skirt at work, though. I don't have enough cash in the bank to make a palliative dash to Wal-Mart, either. So I guess for today I'll just be ratty-skirted Courtney, the soon to be former Chronicle reporter.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 09:54 AM | Comments (0)
July 15, 2004
wsj and discombobulated
The Wall Street Journal was on my doorstep this morning. Maybe its thud is what woke me up so early.I'll have five days between the end of this job and the start of the next one. I didn't plan it that way, but with a short out-of-state trip squeezed in there it just seemed like the best scheduling approach. Although I'm eager to jump into a new work world, I'm also glad to have this brief respite. With so much change and activity in my personal and professional life, I'm unfocused and out of sorts. I need a few days to get my mind in order.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 10:32 AM | Comments (0)
July 14, 2004
excited about the future
I start my new job in a week and a half. I'm getting excited. Working at a daily paper, writing as a business reporter--both will be new to me. I'm confident I can handle it, but I'm wondering how much of a shock to my system the change will be. My editor-to-be e-mailed me a bunch of story ideas yesterday, and I want to start working on them right now. I've still got two more Chronicles to put out, though, so I've got to keep focused on the here and now. Last week I signed up for a subscription to the Wall Street Journal, so I can get America's best business reporting delivered to my doorstep each day. It takes up to four weeks for delivery to start; here's hoping I don't have to wait that long.I'll be stepping in for a reporter who had a medical emergency and has been in the hospital for a few months. I hear that his recovery is starting to pick up. I'm glad, because he's a nice guy and he's part of the reason I got this job--I met him at a business journalism seminar in February and he put in a good word for me with the Daily News' editor. If he's able to return to work soon, I don't know what that will mean for me. There's a chance the paper will opt to keep two business reporters on staff, but I may also be put on a different beat.It's all exciting to me. Over time, I would like to try writing for a number of different beats. I also want to stick with one beat for a while, though, so I can develop sources and do more in-depth work. I have high hopes--some of them pretty specific--for my long-term career, but I'm trying to stay open to whatever comes my way during this next professional stage.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 09:29 AM | Comments (0)
July 11, 2004
SADS
Tonight I learned about Sudden Adult Death Syndrome. Basically, when young adults die suddenly and unexpectedly the people who classify things need some kind of label to apply. So they call it sudden adult death syndrome. Yikes!
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 10:22 PM | Comments (0)
July 10, 2004
camp-o-rama. "rahma" or "raaaama"?
Heading into the Florence sand dunes for some camping. Back later.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 09:26 AM | Comments (0)
July 07, 2004
bewilderment, insurance, messy
So at the end of May I received a letter from my health insurance company--I have a private policy because than the plan offered at work. The letter said that I was a month ahead on my payments, but that the $47 I'd sent would be applied to my July premium, and that the amount I would be increased in July by $33 to $80. This week I got a check from my insurance company for $47, dated June 15, saying that they could no longer hold my money in a special account and that I now owed them the full $80 if I wanted to be insured. I guess they received my $33, though, because a day later I received a letter saying that I had not sent them enough money and that I now owed them $47.Now I have to decide what to do. Do I cash the check for $47 and write them another check for $47? Do I cash the $47 and write them a check for $80, assuming that a $33 check is probably in the mail right now? Do I just keep all of my $80, confident in the knowledge that I'll have a new health plan through my new job as of Aug. 1 anyhow?It's all too bewildering.When my parents came in to town on Sunday, the apartment was clean. We had recently washed dishes and cleaned the cat box. Everything was in its place. Today everything is a mess. Health insurance papers cover two of the three couch cushions, as well as most of the coffee table. The dishes from Sunday's five Sherwood, one Lincoln dinner are sitting in the kitchen sink. We're out of cat litter and the box is starting to stink. Now that I've inventoried my camping equipment in preparation for a mini-backpacking trip this weekend, unpacked tents, tarps, stoves and sleeping bags are spread out all over the floor. The family won't recognize this place tomorrow night.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 10:41 PM | Comments (0)
July 06, 2004
jubilation
I'm not used to being this excited, and I'm a quiet enough person that it's hard to express it. Deep down inside I'm standing at the banks of the Columbia River and yelling jubilantly, even if in real life I'm brushing my teeth and surfing the web. I'm thrilled about this Longview Daily News job. I start at 9:30 a.m. on July 26.I love being a reporter.At the Daily News I hope to be less overworked, with more time to focus on putting out well-researched, well-written stories, including a few in-depth articles each month. I'm going to be a business reporter. I've already gone through recent online archives, started researching the area's publicly-traded companies, and started to outline what I think I'll be covering at my new beat. I'm trying to come up with story ideas so I can hit the ground running on my first day, even as I wade through the new employee paperwork.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 09:21 PM | Comments (0)
movin' on up (already on the eastside in a deluxe apartment, thank you)
Delivered de letter:Dear Pam,Please accept this letter as my formal notice of resignation from The Chronicle, effective 5 p.m. on Tuesday, July 20. I’ve been offered a position at the Longview Daily News. It’s a career opportunity I just can’t pass up.In my final two weeks at The Chronicle I will attempt to document my responsibilities in order to provide a guide for my replacement. I would also be happy to assist you in your to efforts find, interview and train my replacement.I have grown considerably as a reporter and as a person during my two years at The Chronicle. Thank you very much for the opportunities you’ve provided.Sincerely,Courtney Sherwood
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 04:28 PM | Comments (0)
July 05, 2004
big day tomorrow
Things have been busy with the family in town. Last night we went for a walk in the neighborhood, got take out from a neighborhood pizza place, and watched downtown fireworks from a mile-distant sidewalk. Today they visited with the Riles. We all gathered for dinner in Tigard. Tomorrow I work all day and and work all night, but I'm sure I'll see the visiting Sherwoods at least a few more times before Friday, when they drive off to the north.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 09:30 PM | Comments (0)
July 03, 2004
the parents are coming
My parents and brothers Austin and Chance are coming to Portland tomorrow and staying through the 9th.Things have been pretty active in my life the past few weeks. Two weekends ago I voyaged to California for camping and an introduction to Ben's paternity. Last weekend I spent hours and hours networking with other young journalists. With my family coming to town, I had hoped to take today off to just sit and relax.Instead, I got up at 7 a.m., decided to take a bath, realized the tub was dirty and decided to clean it. That kicked me off on a cleaning frenzy, which I'll have to end before noon because I have another AYJ get-together. Rian and I have both been so busy lately that we haven't spent much time for weeks, so we're going to run around doing chores together this afternoon. If we're done before it gets too late, I really ought to round up my clothes and take them to the laundromat. While there I'll either do some of the work I brought home or work on some of the life strategizing I need to get down to.The day after my parents leave I'm going camping with Ben, possibly Amy, and the Riles along the Oregon coast. I don't think I have anything planned for the weekend of the 17th, except that I'll be preparing for major life changes that will start around July 20. The next weekend I'm flying to Minnesota for a wedding. The weekend after that I'm helping to organize an event on Saturday and I'm going to a wedding on Sunday. Only it occurs that Laura will be in town, so I'll have to figure out some way to not neglect her during young journalist time. Oy.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 08:43 AM | Comments (0)
July 02, 2004
righteous
"I graduated from college in 1964. At the beginning of that summer is was legal to tell me, 'We don't hire women to do that.' By the end of that summer it was illegal."Heard on NPR this morning in a discussion of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which was signed into law 40 years ago this week. It sounded like Linda Wertheimer was speaking, but I missed the introductions so I'm not going to swear to it.A few months ago I fell in love with an idea from the introduction of my copy of De Toqueville's "Democracy in America," that there have been two prevailing views of the nation since its birth. One view holds that we have been gradually declining by eroding individual liberties, expanding the reach of government and private powers, and lowering moral standards. The other view holds that that we have been gradually improving by expanding rights, creating social safety nets, and changing our public enforcement of moral standards to be less individually intrusive. I think a case could be made for either view from any political or ideological perspective.With such an abundance of dark news about America's doings, it's nice to be reminded of all the progress we've made.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 08:29 AM | Comments (0)
July 01, 2004
times, they are a-changin'
It's not official yet, but good news is incoming. I hope to have more details Friday, but things may not be in web-worthy condition until Tuesday.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 01:10 PM | Comments (0)
June 30, 2004
not good in movies and pasta
Wanting sea shell noodles or spaghetti for dinner and finding none, I decided to try lasagna noodles. When they finished boiling I realized that we were out of spaghetti sauce and butter. So I grated some stale parmesan, tossed the lasagna noodles in extra virgin olive oil and was generous with the salt and pepper. It just wasn't good. Kind of like the movie Ben and I watched last night, "Chronicles of Riddick." Not good.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 07:47 PM | Comments (0)
June 28, 2004
the news from Courtney Land
The AYJ meetings went well on Saturday. I'm obviously getting too old to be a young journalist, though. I started to fade just as things were getting good around 11 p.m., and bowed out in the midst of a full-blown discussion of strategies for pursuing long-term reporting projects.My car is now extremely past due for an oil change.I mysteriously seem to have pulled a muscle in my neck.That's pretty much it for the news from Courtney Land on Monday morning. I expect to have either specific jubilation or vague despair on display for the viewing public by the end of this week. In the mean time, you get distracted anticipation.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 09:38 AM | Comments (0)
June 26, 2004
exhausted
Ben and I joined Amy and her friend, whose name may have been Caitlyn, for Last Thursday earlier this week. It's a funky 20-block art festival that takes place the final Thursday of each month. I saw this great yellow shirt with "socially awkward" printed on it in brown that I liked a lot, so I decided to make one for myself.Friday after work I bought the materials, a shirt and iron-on letters, at Wal-Mart. Then I came home and fell asleep. Ben woke me up after a while and we munched pasta at La Buca before I fell asleep again.This morning I made the shirt, as well as blue and grey T with the words "I am the media." I still have enough materials to make two more wordy shirts, but I couldn't think of any thing else to print on them, so that will have to wait. Then I made a couple of cushions.Before I could put the finishing touches on the cushions I had to catch the bus to my noontime meeting in the Pearl District. I lunched with two other journalists, a copy editor at The Oregonian and a reporter at The East Oregonian. We are all members of the Association of Young Journalists, and had made plans to talk shop before tonight's big gathering. Lunch ran long, stretching until just after 3 p.m.Now it's 4:30 p.m., which means I have about an hour to tidy up some of my sewing mess from earlier before I head out to the regional Oregon/Washington AYJ gathering at the Portland Brewing Company. Some of the young reporters are traveling long distances. I may end up volunteering a couch to one of them, so I'd like to have this place in slightly better shape before I head out the door.I'm not used to this much running around on weekends. I am exhausted, even after 12 hours of sleep, two coffees and two cokes.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 04:53 PM | Comments (0)
June 24, 2004
middle school shooting averted
It's nice to know that planning is good for something. A Virginia middle school's lockdown plan appears to have prevented another Columbine. I know people that went to this middle school.Two lines from the story caught my attention: "Although fellow students said the boy was teased incessantly, Ebert said 'in no way does that justify' the attack" and "Authorities said they believe several other students plotted with the seventh-grader, who was often teased." I was teased pretty incessantly in middle school, too, and I used to get so mad at my own self control. I would want to go ballistic and not be able to overcome some sort of internal monitor. I never had any specific plans--certainly I didn't want to shoot or kill anybody--but embarrasing or hurting certainly wasn't outside the realm of my imagination. I wonder how I might have coped differently if I had had friends to conspire with.We didn't run a letter to the editor from a middle school student in yesterday's paper, partly because of we didn't have room for all the letters and partly because we needed to verify his claims. He was complaining about the way the administration treated unpopular kids. Apparently a group of popular kids handed him water, waited until after he drank it, then told him they had filled the bottle from a toilet. This was part of a pattern of bad treatment, according to the letter writer. When the administration's investigation determined that it wasn't actually water from the toilet, school leaders passed the incident off as a harmless prank, the student claims. I'm glad he chose letter-writing as his outlet for his anger.It's obvious that this lock-down response system is necessary as long as American schools continue to be such awful places for the awkward, the shy and the weird. It may be an example of one of my least favorite bits of jargon--proactive thinking--on the part of the administration. Too bad they "proacted" to the crime instead of to an environment and a situation that leaves thousands of students across the country suffering and dreaming for every one that acts out.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 07:27 AM | Comments (0)
June 23, 2004
inflate the dead story, dear
After my early morning slugfest at work, I managed to actually write some stuff, talk to some folks, get things done. My sentencing story, a follow-up to a crime I covered in March, is so conventional and dull that I brought it some to try to breathe a little life into it.Somehow I've managed to become one of the three most active members of the Oregon chapter of the Association of Young Journalists (acronym is pronounced "age"), and I've gotten involved in coordinating a regional gathering of the group on Saturday. I may even have a pre-gathering meeting with the other two active folks to plan things out. I'm not sure how this happened, except that I'm opinionated about journalism and not afraid to say a few things on the message boards.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 06:55 PM | Comments (0)
once more, with feeling
These alternating bouts of enthusiasm and lethargy are hard on a girl.I'm having a hard time working this week. Remembering goals helps. Goal: Be the world's greatest reporter. Maybe I just want to crawl into bed, but nobody becomes the world's greatest reporter while napping. It's working, somewhat. I'm doing my job. I'm trying hard to push myself beyond just going through the motions. I wish I had an editor and a group of ambitious fellow journalists to surround myself with for inspiration, though.I'm also still not fully recouperated from the four day mini-vacation that ended late Sunday night. I traveled to California with Ben and his adult sister Amy to visit their father's family. We camped for three nights in bear infested woods. I didn't sleep very well, but I enjoyed the scenery and the people. It was fun to play with Ben's younger sister, 12-year-old Natasha, who operates on a slightly different, more energetic sphere than most people. The third night and fourth day we spent in Davis, touring Ben's old college town, chilling at a coffee shop and sleeping on a lumpy futon.I signed up to take two graduate classes in functioning government and democracy at Portland State University this summer. They meet alternating weekends, Fridays 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturdays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The only three non-class weekends between now and mid-August are reserved for my parents' visit, my trip to a Minnesota wedding, and a drive south to an Oregon wedding.Big things are in the works for me, though, and I'm not sure if I can really handle trips, visits, hard work, life changes and school work. The classes were a way for me to channel some of the intellecual energies that have been going sadly neglected at work. If I can find another, better, outlet for those energies I may drop the classes altogether.In the mean time, there are some motions that need to be gone through.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 08:56 AM | Comments (0)
June 21, 2004
gmail
Apparently I have five gmail invitations. Anybody want one?
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 06:31 PM | Comments (0)
June 20, 2004
meeting the parents
It started with a cup full of shit that made us an hour late. It ended with vomit and a missing wallet. In between, Ben and I faced bears that weren't really there and long-forgotten college haunts. Now I'm ready for bed.Thursday through just now we've been in California, car camping in the sequoias, driving up and down, and walking all about in the land of the Lincolns. This was my first time meeting Ben's dad, step-mom and youngest brother and sister. That part went well. Overall, it was a better vacation than I could have feared. Now that I'm home I'm too stressed by the half-dozen home answering machine messages, the lonely cats and the immediacy of tomorrow to elaborate. Maybe later. Good night.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 11:53 PM | Comments (0)
June 17, 2004
leaving, returning.
Going to California this morning to meet Ben's dad and maybe do some camping. Back on Sunday.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 07:53 AM | Comments (0)
June 16, 2004
movie spoiler
This is a great movie. It ends with Whoopie Goldberg finding a million dollars and using it to take eleven dogs to the beach.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 06:57 PM | Comments (0)
television, departure
I'm watching this weird movie, "More Dogs Than Bones." One of the main actors is D. B. Woodside, who plays the principal in the final season of Buffy. Also Buffy's love interest, and the son of a former slayer killed by Spike. Another actor in this movie is Peter Coyote, who graduated from Grinnell College.I have a lot to do tonight. I have to clean the litter box and iron my suit. I have to write some articles and pack. I'd like to put away my bras, which are spread out all over the place after I washed them and left them lying around to dry. Maybe I'll even feed the cats.For now, though, I'm going to watch "More Dogs Than Bones." When it's over I'll watch Law and Order. Then I can finally get on with my life.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 06:43 PM | Comments (0)
Oh, frantic life
I never got around to saying anything about the barbershop harmony show I witnessed last weekend at the masonic temple and now it's almost next weekend and tomorrow Ben and I leave for California. Oh, frantic life!
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 09:21 AM | Comments (0)
June 15, 2004
how appropriate
The day after I aquired a much-coveted gmail account (thank you, Lana), yahoo upgrades its e-mail system. Too little, too late, I say. Of course my new gmail messages can't be checked at work until I make time to upgrade my browser. I'm not even sure it can be done on this mid-90s computer.If you don't mind waiting for me to read what you have to say, though, you can now write to me at csherwood (at) gmail.com.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 08:07 AM | Comments (0)
June 11, 2004
argh!
I'm going to a wedding in late July in Minnesota. For a few months I've looked for airline tickets about once a week to see if there were any good deals. Finally last night I charged the trip, worried that prices would start going up if I waited any longer. This afternoon I got a travel alert in my inbox. Fare sale on trips to Minneapolis. I could get a flight and hotel combo for $80 less than I spent on plane fare alone.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 01:22 PM | Comments (0)
June 10, 2004
new management
The local Assembly of God congregation has moved to a new building and sold its old church. Instead of posting service times or inspirational messages, the reader board outside the recently sold vacant church building now reads "New Management."
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 05:16 PM | Comments (0)
in a funk
It started Monday, when I felt bummed so I took much of the day off. Tuesday I had to stick around and perform. Wednesday the low morale was back; I left early again. Today it's clear I'm in a funk. This sucks.I want to snap myself out of it. Instead I'm feeling sluggish and unmotivated, at least about work.I did finish sewing a complicated skirt and teach myself to knit yesterday, start the skirt and bake a pizza from scratch Tuesday, so I'm not totally dead on the insides. Just when I'm at work.I think I need to talk with my boss before I let my low morale destroy me.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 08:40 AM | Comments (0)
June 09, 2004
domestic tonight.
Domestic tonight. I made a pizza from scratch, doubling the dough batch to freeze half for later. If only I knew how to defrost a ball of dough.Then I worked further on my most complicated skirt sewing project to date. It's going to be striped.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 12:37 AM | Comments (0)
June 07, 2004
C-SPAN on campaign finance reform
Yet another reason why C-SPAN rocks: On C-SPAN 2, I can watch a broadcast of a conference sponsored by the American Press Institute with PoliticalMoneyLine.com and Wallstreet Journal experts teaching reporters how to cover campaign financing. And without paying any entry fee or going into Washington. I'm learning things!Oh my gawd. It's Steph Drinkard's dad, from USA Today. C-SPAN is my favorite channel!
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 03:54 PM | Comments (0)
life
I can't believe I watched a musical called "Urinetown" yesterday. And that I had such high hopes for it.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 03:29 PM | Comments (0)
waah
It looks like I've got a busy summer of Chronicle work ahead of me. There are some big projects on the horizon. As for today, I'm not sure how long I'm going to be in the office. I think I may take most of the day off to be a person instead of an employee.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 11:26 AM | Comments (0)
June 06, 2004
fun downtown
Rian and I met downtown this evening to go to the Rose Festival. We paid $5 to get into waterfront area where all the carnival-style events were taking place. We got free samples of candy and skin products, and Rian got free allergy medicine. I had already taken a long walk earlier in the day and my feet were hurting, so we decided to leave the waterfront and head to the Virginia Cafe for chips and beer. A few hours later we emerged to watch the Starlight Parade, which was huge. It lasted from 8:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., and featured service club members in funny costumes, high school marching bands, corporate sponsors' self-promotions, historical reenactors, and quirky groups like the punk all-drum marching band and the people who like to dress up as Star Wars stormtroopers.We weren't ready to go home yet, so we grabbed cokes and pizza at Captain Ankeny's Well. It became late, cold and rainy, so finally we ran to our buses and headed home.The best part of the downtown experience had nothing to do with the festival or the bars. I assembled a really colorful outfit in the hour or so before I left the house and it brought me a lot of attention. I wore red tights, a green skirt with yellow ribbon, a blue shirt and an orange jacket. All of the colors were bright. Nothing matched. The outfit was assembled according to my theories of complementary saturations. Everywhere I went people made comments. Women complimented my colors and my clothes. Men hit on me. One asked me out, another tried to hug me, several started conversations or just made really nice, non-demeaning comments.It was quite exciting and strange to get so much positive attention. Rian commented that this is not an outfit to wear when I want to feel anonymous. The whole experience made me want to sew and buy more quirky, colorful clothes.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at 12:36 AM |