Archive for December, 2006
Friday, December 29th, 2006
My Embargoed Interview with Woodward
Bob Woodward was willing to keep William Mark Felt (Watergate’s Deep Throat) a secret for 30 years until Felt’s descendants decided it might be nice to cash in. On Wednesday Woodward revealed he had interviewed President Gerald Ford about four years ago, keeping his conversation secret until Ford died. As a result, I have decided […]
3 Comments » - Posted in Springsteen, Musings, News, Politics by Steven Gardner
Friday, December 29th, 2006
The King is Dead
The King County Journal, as of late January, is no more. We all saw this coming. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer wrote:
Don Kendall, general manager of Black’s newly created King County Publications Ltd. division, made the announcement in the newsroom in Kent, reading from a prepared statement. Forty full-time employees will be laid off.
Eleven Journal staff members […]
No Comments » - Posted in Bad Business, Career, News by Steven Gardner
Wednesday, December 27th, 2006
A Few Thoughts on Gerald Ford
By 1976, at the age of 14, I was already a Reagan guy. In 1980 I cast my first vote for Reagan. These days, while I might bicker with some of Reagan’s policies, I don’t think it’s wrong to measure some of his success by how he made America feel about itself. Jimmy Carter was […]
No Comments » - Posted in Politics by Steven Gardner
Sunday, December 24th, 2006
Merry Christmas
No Comments » - Posted in Uncategorized by Steven Gardner
Saturday, December 23rd, 2006
Perfect Ending
Sylvester Stallone could have never made another Rocky movie and it wouldn’t have diminished my admiration for at least the first two, and possibly all five of them.
About an hour ago I walked out of Rocky Balboa so glad he did give it another round.
I liked all the Rocky movies, but some of it […]
No Comments » - Posted in Pop Culture by Steven Gardner
Friday, December 22nd, 2006
Stirring the Drink
My video for the Kitsap Sun on what some people suspect is a doctored photo has gotten some attention from elsewhere. Another small daily called and asked for permission to link to the YouTube video. Meanwhile David Postman of the Seattle Times posted it on his political blog.
Here’s the video:
No Comments » - Posted in Career, Blog News, News, Politics by Steven Gardner
Friday, December 22nd, 2006
McCawtastrophe
The buyout period came and went and enough people took the deal to make layoffs unnecessary. That’s obviously cool.
Now comes the second part of all of this, wondering if we’re being trimmed to become more attractive to a buyer. One rumored suitor is David Black, a Canadian who owns a few U.S. dailies and a […]
1 Comment » - Posted in Career, News by Steven Gardner
Tuesday, December 19th, 2006
In the Light
I’m blogging from my house, by the light of the Christmas tree, using wireless, catching glances at the television. My house. It has electricity again.
Around 6 p.m. I got a call from a neighbor that we were back online.
I about cried. Yeah, I about cried.
1 Comment » - Posted in News by Steven Gardner
Monday, December 18th, 2006
University Point Held Hostage - Day 4
There still is no power in our neighborhood and the latest is it might still be days longer before we see relief. Puget Sound Energy said the number of customers without power is down below 200,000 (from 700,000) and many new agencies are acting as if the worst is over. I’ve never been on this […]
1 Comment » - Posted in Blog News, News by Steven Gardner
Sunday, December 17th, 2006
Whining
Things are a mess here in the field of Steve.
On Thursday I began getting a sense that I was about to embark on a food-poisoning ordeal. By 8 p.m. I was firmly seated on the toilet confirming my earlier suspiscions when the lights in the bathroom flickered off. They came back on about five […]
No Comments » - Posted in Family, News by Steven Gardner
Thursday, December 14th, 2006
Who You Know
I’ll be stretching the limits of fair use standards in this entry, but I don’t how long the Salt Lake Tribune will leave this story up on the Web.
Joe Cannon is now editor of the Deseret Morning News. This seems to me to be the worst possible decision the paper could make. I look back […]
3 Comments » - Posted in News by Steven Gardner
Thursday, December 7th, 2006
Taking the Lead on Lead
Just when I thought those do-gooders at the federal government were going to take away my ability to get my lead from kids’ bracelets, it looks like I’ll be able to get it from my former source, the air.
The EPA is seriously considering reducing restrictions on lead pollution. It sounds like a headline from the […]
No Comments » - Posted in News by Steven Gardner
Wednesday, December 6th, 2006
Hope from the Gray Lady
Following the post about the job losses at our company, there’s a glimmer of good news from the New York Times. The company could see a 30 percent increase in online revenues, about $80 million more in 2007 than 2006.
No Comments » - Posted in Career, News by Steven Gardner
Monday, December 4th, 2006
Downsizing
Today my company announced it was eliminating nine jobs in the newsroom.
There are not many ways to spin this as a “good” thing. There isn’t that much fat in our operation, not much dead weight. If I had another job lined up it might feel different. Fact is, I don’t.
3 Comments » - Posted in Career, News by Steven Gardner
Sunday, December 3rd, 2006
Watchdog vs. Watchdog
The head of the General Services Administration is telling the Inspector General that his efforts are “intimidating the workforce” and is trying to limit his ability to audit contracts for fraud and waste.