Milestones

This is not what I had planned on writing but I'm super excited so I'm going to do it anyways!

Potter is 4 months old today.I decided to test his tiny little bladder to see if next week I can try leaving him home all day...and he made it!!! So at some point next week, I haven't decided what day yet, he will stay in his crate all day, and I will enjoy lunch at the station or with co-workers :) If I come home to find a mess then I'll immediately have to start coming back home. But I'm sure gonna try. It'll be nice not to have to shell out what I do for gas on this next paycheck.

He also managed to jump up on the bed without the help of my old entertainment center today. So I was able to take that back apart and store it in my closet, and spread out my purple fuzzy rug. It almost looks like I have a real bedroom now!

I've spent today trying to get things in their proper places. I have all but one of my boxes unpacked (I don't have my desk contents out because the movers broke my desk). My closet is finally together the way I want it, I have all of my clothes hung up and in their proper place. The drawers in my bedroom are organized and full, now I'm just working on handling what's left of the clutter in there. I'll hang at least two pictures tonight and then it'll look like I have a real bedroom! (I still need curtains, but that's gonna wait til the paycheck after this next one) Once the bedroom is done (after the True Blood season finale...) I'm going to attack the bathroom and de-clutter and clean that. All the while I've gotten a load of dishes done and three loads of laundry. The apartment is really starting to look like a home. So this is what being productive feels like...

I got out of the house yesterday and went and check out what I'm told is a Montgomery landmark...the old Capri theater. I went and saw The Girl Who Played With Fire since I finished that book last month. It was a pretty neat time. It was the first time I've ever gone to a movie by myself and it wasn't as intimidating as I thought it would be. However it was a bit of a shock to have to pay with "cash or check only." It really was like stepping back in time.

I get to see two familiar faces this week, and I'm totally stoked about that! Someone I went to Mizzou with (I'm not going to blow their cover here) will be interviewing at WSFA. They'll be the first familiar face I've seen in two months. And Jason will be here for a visit at some point this week, I'm not positive on what days because of his class schedule, but I'm so excited to see my honey again!

I know there was more I wanted to write but I just turned off the air-conditioner and cracked open my windows and I'm going to enjoy the southern breeze on my first cool night in Alabama (I know my allergies will make me pay later...).

"What do you mean I have to flip that switch?"

My only true complaint about my apartment complex is the maintenance men. They're pretty much useless.

I can submit a complaint and unless it's an emergency they won't get to it for at least a month. And even then, it won't be fixed. Case in point...

When I moved in, the biggest burner on my stove had a short in it, so when I turned it on, it sparked. I put in a maintenance request. 5 weeks later they came to replace it. Apparently they didn't think to test it...because the new burner definitely doesn't work.

My back balcony door doesn't lock...because the part of the lock that attaches to the door frame is missing. I called them to fix it...they left the copy of the request on my counter saying it was fixed, they didn't even touch it. I can only assume that it isn't supposed to have a lock, they're just using the security arm as the lock. I don't live on the ground floor, so if someone wanted to break in that way they'd have to do some serious shimmying up a drain pipe. And when they opened the door my security alarm would go off, but a simple explanation would've been nice.

Also when I moved in my toilet had a phantom flush. I'm not stupid. I know that meant the flapper was going bad. I called the problem in at the same time as the door lock and stove burner. After 3 weeks nobody came to fix it. I got up one morning and it wouldn't stop running. I went to jiggle the handle and heard a "plink" and then the toilet wouldn't flush at all. This meant the chain on the flapper had slipped. I have a counter top that runs over to top of the toilet so it's hard to see inside the tank...so I took my chance and I called maintenance. After all...it's my only toilet and it now didn't work. I knew exactly what was wrong and how to fix it, but an hour later someone showed up, fixed that problem and replaced the part that caused the original problem, and all is well. Sometimes a little fib is necessary...the real irony is that if they'd come to fix it in the first place, this second problem never would've happened.

The last instance isn't really a maintenance issue, it just goes to show you need to check out how your apartment is wired.

When I first moved in my mom and I check to make sure all of my appliances worked, ice make, refrigerator, microwave, dishwasher, everything. With the exception of the one burner on the stove, all was well. So when my moving fan FINALLY came, two weeks later (yeah, I lived in my apartment with only an air bed and folding chair for 2 weeks...miserable) I unpacked my dishes and went to throw them in the dishwasher...and it wouldn't turn on. I was so angry. I called the maintenance people yet again, and then I went to work hand washing.

About an hour later my cell phone rings, I pick it up, and it's maintenance. The guy asked me if the light switch next to my garbage disposal was turned to on. I said no. He said turn the dishwasher on and then flip the switch. My response: "What do you mean I have to flip that switch?" I did, and my dishwasher popped on. WHAT KIND OF AN IDIOT ELECTRICIAN WIRES A DISHWASHER TO A LIGHT SWITCH?!?! Yeah...mine.

Also...it's deceptive when you tour an apartment during the day, you have no idea what it looks like when it's dark. I didn't notice that there was no light in my living room, OR my bedroom. They're using switches wired to outlets so your own lamps can light the rooms. And that's fine except...I'm supposed to have 2 switches in my living room...only one outlet is wired and working. I'm supposed to have one switch in my bedroom...it doesn't work. And I have a feeling maintenance won't ever come out to fix them. Fighting a losing battle there. But I have no way to flip a light on when I walk into my bedroom, which is annoying...I have to stumble around until I find my lamp. It'll be easier for me when I have my fish tank set up and I can leave that light on, but for now...it means tripping over things for a bit.

Finding an apartment...without being there

The biggest obstacle I've come up against after finding my job, was finding some place to live.

My situation was pretty unique. The project I was hired to work on was starting really quickly after I accepted the job. I had 3 weeks after accepting the job til my first day of work. Unbeknownst to my future employer, I had immediately put my two weeks notice in at Michaels after I got home from my interview, before I even was offered the job. And I started researching apartments and laying out a basic budget at the same time.

When I was offered the job a week later I only had 1 week of work left at Michaels. That left me with 1 week to pack til I left for Alabama, and I had 2 full days here before I started work.

With only 2 days on the ground in 'bama, that meant I did a TON of leg work finding an apartment while I was in Missouri. I worked off of a spreadsheet that identified the apartment name, rent, sq. footage, and various amenities I thought were important. I also laid out what part of town they were in, because in Montgomery there's one good area and the rest...needs help. Then I started calling about availability, and that's where I ran into trouble.

Montgomery is a college and military town. I was looking for availability at the 1st of August...when everybody was moving back for school or duty, and I was looking for it on short notice. I crossed several apartments I was really interested in off of my list simply because they couldn't have anything ready for me in the time frame I was willing to wait. Plus, I left Columbia before my moving truck loaded. They loaded the day I started work, from that point, they had two and a half weeks to deliver my furniture. I had to have somewhere for them to take it. It was a very serious, and VERY stressful gamble. I was working against the clock in a bad way. I HAD to have somewhere to live, and I didn't have many options to choose from.

Once I marked on my list where there was availability I picked my 3 favorite and sent off an application. One of the three I didn't have a great feeling about, but it would have been somewhere I could deal with. The next choice up was decent. The 1st choice was a long shot, but all things considered, it was my best option. Side note: most places won't process your application until you pay the application fee. My first choice wouldn't do it until I was also willing to put down a $250 security deposit...that was my first choice place.

I faxed applications in, and overnighted an application fee to my second choice (fees were waived for my third choice), and an application fee and a security deposit to my first choice. The first place I heard back from was that third choice. I was approved and they would put my name on an apartment if I wanted to send them a security deposit...I had 3 days to decide. The third day came and I hadn't heard from the other two. I kept thinking about why I didn't like that specific apartment...and on the third day I told them to release the apartment to someone else. I was freaking out, but I didn't want to get stuck in a year long lease somewhere I didn't absolutely love. Stressful decision, but I'm glad I did it, because the next day I heard back from my first choice, I had been approved, and they had a unit saved for me. I set up an appointment to meet with them when I got in to Montgomery to actually SEE that apartment...remember...I was doing this all sight unseen. Terrifying. (btw, I never did hear back from my 2nd choice...the check was cashed and that was it...lessons learned)

When mom and I got into town, with puppy in tow we checked into our hotel...a home for the next week and a half...and then drove straight to the apartments. At first sight, I was really unsure about the apartments. The property manager was really hesitant about telling us anything to do with apartment demographics (student vs. adult vs. military vs. family breakdowns). She kept acting like she didn't know saying "Oh, I don't know. Couldn't tell you." That left a bad taste in my mouth. She showed us a unit not EXACTLY like mine, just similar. I wasn't sold.

Mom and I left without signing a contract. Once again...panic mode.

We spent the next morning visiting my 3rd choice (so glad I didn't go there) and a couple other places I couldn't get to call me back). During that process I learned something that made me feel better about the first apartment...it's not that the property manager didn't know that breakdown of the demographics. "Couldn't tell you" literally meant she couldn't tell me, as in not allowed to. Alabama has a fair housing protection law where management is not allowed to disclose that information to residents, whereas in Missouri they were required to disclose that information. I felt a bit better about that.

Mom and I had a late lunch, discussed my possibilities, and went back first thing the next morning to pay first months rent on my first choice apartment. And that's where I'm living now. And I love it.

I took a number of HUGE gambles that I don't suggest or wish on anybody...ever. But after moving in to my apartment, and after looking at the process there were a couple things I wish I'd known to look for. Some suggestions:

- Ask about the Fair housing requirements where you're moving. That clarified a lot for me.

- Ask a police officer on the street where he would suggest moving. They patrol those streets every day, the know what's safe and where to avoid.

- Call the city and ask for a break down of crime statistics by district. Most areas have to provide this and it will give you a better understanding of the city and where the best places to live are (this proved the cop I asked was right...peace of mind is key).

- Tour the area, find out if you like the grocery stores, the gas stations, local pharmacies. If you have to go there a lot, make sure you're near one.

- KNOW what you are and aren't willing to deal with in an apartment. Do a lot of laundry? You probably don't want a stackable unit. Cook a lot? Watch for counter space. Live alone? Look at a gated community or somewhere with security systems.

- Pay attention to little things in the apartment like outlet placement and wiring (I'll explain more about this with my next blog...)

Owing a puppy is a math equation.

And it's one I see every day in my checkbook in some very unexpected places.

Potter is my pup.

My mom and I on a lark one day went to visit the Independence Animal Shelter. I had just accepted my job in Montgomery and my parents had agreed that once I got settled in they would buy me a dog so I could have some company to count on. We went to the shelter just to get some ideas of what to look for in a shelter dog.

In the back room, each locked in there own kennels were 5 little puppies marked "Hound mix, 7 weeks." The puppies were all from a litter someone had found under a set of stairs somewhere near the Independence Square. When they found them they were malnourished and covered in white paint. The shelter rescued them, cleaned them up, fattened them up, and then put them up for adoption as soon as they were old enough to be fixed.

It was love at first sight. Potter was a quiet, shy, loving little guy. I picked him up first thing and all he wanted to do was snuggle into my shoulder. He was a cuddley puppy. Against my best judgement I put him back in his crate and took a turn around the kennel room with each of his brothers and sisters. I kept coming back to him. So did my mother. Mom and I were on our way out of the shelter to go home when she stopped at the desk and said "what do we have to do to adopt one?" My heart dropped. I wasn't supposed to get a dog until after I'd gotten settled in Montgomery. We put our name in and a week later she picked up a drugged little puppy from our vet and took him home while I finished my last few days of work in Columbia.

He spent time learning from our three large breed dogs at home and 3 days later when she brought him to me, he was convinced he was a Great Dane. And he and I have been inseparable ever since...

but that's not just because I love him so darn much.

He's too young to be left alone for very long.

According to his new trainer (I'm shelling out for obedience classes for him) puppies can't be left alone for more that the number of months they are old, plus one.

Potter is 3 1/2 months old. So he can only hold his bladder for 4 1/2 hours technically. This leaves me with two options...pay $10 a day for puppy daycare...or drive home every day during my lunch hour to let him out and to play with him.

A puppy is happier in his own home, so that means I'm driving home on my lunch break every day to let him out.

Unforeseen consequence: My gas mileage has doubled. Instead of a tank of gas lasting 2 weeks like I budgeted...I'm only getting 1. It costs $30 every time I fill up my tank. That's $60 a month I hadn't counted on.

Now go back to your college economics class...opportunity cost. I'm missing out on the chance to go out to lunch with co-workers...which when you're a strange person in a brand new city is a pretty important thing. It's the chance to make friends. And instead of going out after work, I run home to let out and feed a puppy.

He goes through a $12 bag of food every two weeks...a $5 box of treats every 3. Add a $3 box of scented poop bags to pick up after him at my apartment complex (gross). And all the table scraps he can beg (and you know I'm a push-over).

He goes to the vet for shots on Friday...guaranteed minimum $60. Add the $70 for a month of obedience training. He'll need another round of shots in 2 more months...another $60. Add flea medication, heartworm medication. He's a teething puppy, so add lots of toys. Two $12 Kong toys destroyed, plus countless other toys. Add in 3 pairs of my own socks. (yeah, haha, funny...not)

And laundry for every time he's peed on his bed...and my bed...and towels from cleaning his spots on the floor.

I'm awake no later than 7am every day. I can't go to bed any earlier than 11pm because of his bathroom schedule.

I'm tired. I miss human contact. I'm broke.

But I don't know what I'd do without the fuzzy little booger. He's my only friend in 800 miles.

If I had it to do over again I probably either wouldn't get a puppy (I'd get an adult that's easier to house train), or I would wait til after being down here a few months to get one.

But the emotional benefit of having that unconditional love through the tough time I'm going through right now is hard to put a price tag on.

Where am I?

That's a really good question.

I'm a really long way from home...834 miles away to be exact. One minute short of 13 hours away in my own little 1br/1ba apartment in Montgomery, Al.

I'm square in the middle of something I haven't had to deal with before...life.

I have a good job that pays well, I'm living by myself with only my furry sidekick named Potter to keep me company. I have my own little corner of the world, and I have bills to pay...lots of them.

All in all I'd call this uncharted territory.

I'm learning how to adjust to a new culture, a new (old) accent, new people, new places, and how to live alone which is maybe the biggest adventure of all.

I left everything and everyone I've ever known behind in Missouri. I'm now my own support system and that means learning lots of things along the way. So that's what this blog will now be for...sharing what I've learned. Who knows...maybe you'll learn a thing or two.

So what have I learned so far?

I am woman, hear me roar, I installed my own washer and dryer. The movers refused to move them through my kitchen into the closet that is my laundry room because they were too scared of damaging either my cabinets or the units themselves. So with no dolly to help, and with nobody else to push, I moved them through my kitchen and into place in the laundry room.

That alone was a major accomplishment. But that's certainly not where it ends.

My apartment complex won't allow the maintenance men to help residents with things like hooking up said washer and dryer...so I got out the pliers and screwdrivers and went to work.

A few small observations...

Water comes out of a supply line REALLY fast. So, if you have a leak in a hose, you're going to have a gigantic wet mess faster than you can say s#!%.

The part of the washer hoses with curved spouts get screwed into the back of the washer...otherwise you get a leak in the hose...resulting in a really big mess.

There's this thing tucked into the back of a washer...a drain hose. If you don't take that out and put it into the wall you get...you guessed it...a really big mess.

It's smart to run a test run on your dryer to see if it's vented properly. It's not smart to climb behind said dryer after you've run the test to fix the vent...dryers get hot...really hot. I'll leave the rest to your imagination.

Needless to say, I'm learning a lot. So if you want to see what I'm up to, or learn from my mistakes, keep checking back. I love suggestions or help on projects. Frankly, I need all the help I can get.

Next time...raising a puppy on my time, my salary, and my patience.

Hey Stranger!

Sorry it's been so long bloggers!

Life has been a little crazy since finals week, graduating, and taking on more hours at work so I can still afford to eat...:/ You know how much I love to eat.

But I'm back! And I'll pick up where I left off here in a couple of days but here's a couple of thoughts for you.

I'm pretty much willing to sell a kidney to be able to afford the iPhone 4. Thaaaaat probably won't go over so well with my parents though, which is a bummer. Something about bills and all...

I will still find a way to get it.

I've loved my iPhone 3G almost fatally. It barely holds battery power anymore and I keep telling myself the sliiiight dent in the screen is merely adding character. But the new one looks so shiny!

And a funny story...you know how your body sometimes goes on autopilot when you drive and it take you to your destination? Well when I left home at 7:15am yesterday morning...my autopilot royally failed me. I was supposed to be headed for work...instead I ended up in my parking spot on the top floor of Hitt Street Parking Garage on MU's campus. I got out of my car and was searching for my backpack in the back seat when I realized...CRAP. It's Sunday. We don't have class on Sunday. And then it dawned on me...CRAP I GRADUATED! AND I HAVE TO BE AT WORK IN 5 MINUTES!!!

I will say, that drive to work was most definitely not on autopilot. But I made it!

Now if you will excuse me, I'm going to spend my day off researching more jobs and watching the rain torment my apartment from the comfy confines of my couch overlooking my balcony :)

Looking back

A brief segway away from college and back to High School.

I think every kid is convinced they want nothing more than to get out of their hometown when they graduate high school.

And then memories of good times try to lead you back after college.

So what do you do when you come to the realization that your home town is nothing but a dead end for you?

I wanted more than anything to return to Independence after College.

But there's nothing there for me.

Kansas City maybe...in time. I'd like to go back to Kansas City. A big question there is, will Kansas City have me? It's such a big media market, it's not always a place for starters.

But the people I grew up with are not the same people anymore. Looking at their new pictures I barely recognize them. Still checking up on the news of my hometown I see things have changed.

It's hard to know what I want. It's hard to know where I want to go anymore. It's strange once you stop feeling the pull back to that town, back to your old High School.

I guess all I know right now is what I want to be doing "when I grow up" and who I want to be doing it with. From there...we'll see.

Reviewing my Journalism Education. One Year At a Time. Part 1

Hindsight is 2020. Mine is 2010 HA! No, but really...

Seeing as how the final class of my Undergraduate career, and more than likely my final class ever is tomorrow afternoon and I'm in the process of applying for jobs, I'm a little nostalgic on my last 4 years of J-School. So I apologize, these posts will somewhat resemble a brain-dump...but if you so choose, join me on my journey.

Summer Welcome: traumatic. My parents read on the registration papers that they weren't required to attend. So they shipped me off to Summer Welcome by myself in a city 2 hours away. This should have been a pretty good indicator as to how my journalism education was going to work...being thrown in against my will...head first.

Needless to say if you know anything about Mizzou's Summer Welcome...I was the ONLY person there, in a group of around 200 without a parent. And without a friend. So I was a little alienated until I met a girl here (with her parents) from New Mexico. I was kind of adopted into the Costales Family...and to this day Gabrielle Costales and I are still the best of friends, and we will be walking the stage together next week. (Holy cow...is it really next week?? Grumble...)

Freshman Year First Semester: Oh how I miss dorm food. But NOT my first roommate with cleanliness issues and NOT my first round of classes that seemed to resemble busy work. Bio class, psychology, Spanish 2...don't miss those. My first Journalism class...J 1010 AKA Career Explorations in Journalism AKA a complete waste of a weekday evening. I could have gotten the same thing out of that class as if someone had come in to my dorm for a 2 hour required meeting on the different sequences. It was recruiting. And it felt like recruiting. I remember being told it was the first of the "weeder" classes that would weed people not truly interested in Journalism out of the field. Frankly, the class was deceptively easy, and most definitely not a weeder class.

What else I remember from this semester...I remember heartbreak. Losing that High School Significant Other that everybody told me and everyone else in that situation to leave at home. I didn't. And I paid for it with my social life. I didn't bother making very many friends. I was depressed. My parents dropped me off and left me. My boyfriend dropped me off and left me. And gosh darn it, I was going to sit at home and sulk and hope that there would be a knock on my tiny little dorm room door. That knock never came. And I learned, with the help of my friends Gabby, Missy, and Mickey, that I needed to pick myself up and focus on what was important. So I did, and I somehow managed to come out of that semester with flying colors. And a few new friends.

Freshman Year Second Semester: This is when the fact that I was a college student and I had to make my own way truly hit home. It took some tough love from my new group of friends the Lunch Bunch to get there. But without this semester I would have been packing it home to UMKC's College of Pharmacology. I decided that journalism was more important to me. So I stayed. And I sat through Principles of American Journalism, which is a class I remember very little of. What hit home to me...Jaqui Banaszynski's presentation. That showed me the difference journalism can make in the world. And from that moment on I was absolutely addicted.

I hate writing cover letters.

I suppose as a journalist I'm more accustomed to telling other's stories. I watch them, I listen to them to get some kind of insight into what makes them tick. Then I take the facts I know and mix everything together into a piece that exposes it all.

So why can't I do that for myself? Why can't I market myself the same way?

My time in the spotlight is supposed to be spent telling others stories...not my own.

Maybe that's why this whole cover letter thing is so difficult for me.

P.S. If you get a chance, watch the video for the soldiers who re-made the Gaga/Beyonce Telephone video. Hilarious. That's a story I'd like to tell.

Journo Road Trip!

Awesome!

K-Proud and I spent a total of 5 hours in the car yesterday traveling through scenic northern Missouri. Some of the sights were a man selling Bonsai trees out of a van, a peculiar way to transport farmers, the home of sliced bread, and maybe the awesomely-named "No Creek" Creek.

Our mission: travel to the city of Trenton, MO for an experiment with a video format for MNH. We were asked to chronicle what a small town's political interests were.

While I heard pretty much what I expected about the political needs of a small town, there's one thing as a journalist in Mid-Mo that I'm not used to hearing, and that's thanks. These people were so grateful that Kelsey and I would take time out of our "busy schedules" to come and try to make their needs public that the Mayor simply could not stop thanking us.

Maybe it's because I come from two incredibly media-saturated towns, but I'm not used to people thanking me for my services. It's my job. I do it because I love it. And, it's nice to see that some people in the world are still glad to have us visit.

Does a girl's heart good to actually hear what I'm doing could make a difference...because frankly, people around these parts sometimes forget that.

So did I mention...

...the website is up! And running! And fully functional!

Which means job applications start going out...tomorrow.

So HIRE ME! Thanks.

Oh...and something to brighten your day...Chad Mira put this on his twitter and I thought it was hillarious. It's what News Anchors do during commercial breaks.

Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7ehlw_phys

Food for thought...

Random musing courtesy Kent Collins...

Does a building burn up? Or does a building burn down?

Or can it do both?

Ha...this will cause me to lose sleep.

Dial 1-800-HTML-HELP

I am so fed-up with getting my website ready that I could just cry. It seems like the second I get one thing going and working, the entire format just falls apart. I've got the website built...now I'm adding content. I'm attempting to add 7 photos and their captions to my "Other Work" page. I've styled the photos so they show up all aligned to the right side of my content container. But, when I preview them, they look scattered everywhere. And when I go back to add the caption into the page...it really does scatter everywhere in dreamweaver.

It's been like this the entire time I've been building this website and I'm one more meltdown away from going to wordpress. I realize that HTML coding is something I need to have a basic understanding of for what I want to do for my job. And It's important to know a software like Dreamweaver. And I thought having a website to showcase that I know all of that instead of using a template-based service would be the thing to do. But I'm getting grey hairs here...really...no jokes. I invite you to come look at my scalp. If the KOMU HDTV signal doesn't show them, feel free to ask.

The most frustrating thing of it all...I can't start applying for jobs until it's ready. And frankly, I need to get on that. Quickly. I looked at the calendar today and realized I graduate in less than a month, and my website isn't even ready. Granted, my resume is on it. Just, none of my work is either formatted correctly or visible.

I know that once I get this done I will be immensely proud of it. It's been a very long, very hard journey, and I'm so close I can smell it. But right now it's really discouraging that I can see the finish line and not get there.

Speaking of seeing the finish line and not being able to get there...

Fell down the stairs last night and fractured my ankle. So I'm in a boot. I can't wait to head back to the Capitol for MNH in my ortho-boot. Oh, and MNH, speaking of seeing the finish line and not being able to get there...

Now you see why I'm going grey?

Wonderings...

I was assigned a little sister last week for my music fraternity SAI. I was matched with her because she's a freshman going into the J-School so it's a learning experience for her and I can mentor her in more than just the ways of our fraternity.

She and I had our first meeting about SAI on Wednesday and it turned into a 2 hour long dinner chat about the state of the industry. And her insight made me think.

The people who are going into J-Schools right now, knowing the state of the industry, can't be doing it for the wrong reasons. If they know there are no jobs, then they're in it because they genuinely love the field of journalsim and genuinely want to find a way to fix it.

To me this means two things.

There's got to be a way to fix an industry that so many people still care about. I don't know what that way is, but they're determined to find it.

And...people in the industry now had better watch their backs. They came to position in the golden age when jobs were readily available and you didn't necessairily have to fight tooth and nail. These people coming through school now...they want it. They want it bad. And they're going to find a way to get it.


As a side note, I had a random thought the other day. I remember as a girl anxiously listening to the dial tones on my internet waiting for the dial-up to connect. That was later upgraded to DSL. And my parents, over the weekend, switched to the new AT&T U-Verse. That completely eliminated the need for my wireless router. The same can be said for my Century-Link internet in Columbia. I literally have 3 wireless routers just hanging around because the technology has surpassed their need.

Can new technology save us? Or is it the tool to our own demise?

Senate vs. House

I know the legislative difference between the two. I'm a poli-sci minor, I'd better know.

But...a big difference...

Representatives call Reporters back. Senators don't. Or at least the ones on the bills I need information on. I maintain this goes back to High School when I got blackballed by Victor Callahan 4 different times. Yes, HIGH SCHOOL. And then this summer working for Fox 4 he wouldn't call John Pepitone back. I finally say the man in person for the first time on Wednesday...and we played the staring game.

But seriously, the senator sponsoring the Amy Hestir Child Protection Act would not call me back. I finally got in touch with Senate Communications who game me the phone number for another senator who could help me out and I'm glad they did. I finally, after 3 days of making class, have the information I need to finish this story.

Now I just need to get away from KOMU to write it.

*phew*

In other news...

The capitol building is way cooler than I remember. The last time I was there I was a wide-eyed 4th grader who had just taken her first train ride from Independence, MO to Jeff City on a field trip. And, the experience was kinda wasted on me. It was an early morning, I was tired, hungry, and a little overwhelmed. This time around, 12 years later, I'd had an early morning class, I was tired, hungry, and overwhelmed. Ok, maybe it was the fact that I was a foot taller this time? I don't know. As an almost 22-year-old I was better able to handle the massive-ness that is the Capitol building.

My life as a Google Calendar

I no longer have a life. I have a calendar linked on google that my group-mates and capstone supervisor can edit.

I have to plan fun time, aka...LOST premiers tomorrow (so excited) and that's on my calendar so I will remember to set time aside to watch it. Good grief.

I'm seriously considering putting my sleep pattern on there too...that way I'll actually remember to do it.

Capstone Angels got another email from Rebecca this morning giving us the Senate committee hearing schedule this week. We're each to pick an issue and do a preview story, and then a committee hearing wrap up on it. My assignment: education hearing on Wednesday afternoon, specifically the Amy Hestir bill on Statutory Rape in a school setting.

I'm going to spend my afternoon (which is the only one this week not mapped on the google calendar, aka my only time this week that isn't scheduled for anything) researching the bill's history and trying to get ahold of lawmakers for phoners tomorrow morning about what they want to accomplish in the hearing. I'm thinking another print story with a few photos added when I visit the capital on Wednesday...we'll see how this goes.

More about me, less about Journalism

If you're wanting a post about my doings in the J-School lately, this post won't have much to offer you. This is more about me and an idea I had and things I want to do with my earnings from my job when I get older.

Obligatory journalism update: I've settled into KOMU extremely well. I hit a few hitches now and then but that's all part of the learning process. I've learned I love TV reporting and working with the web/social media. I'd be happy with a job in either field. Still not sure if I can handle producing. I'm not sure my brain is quite organized enough. As it sits now I'm live reporting for KOMU for the Friday dayside shift (5 and 6) for the first half of the semester (P.S. If you're a job recruiter looking to hire someone, google me!) and I'll switch to mornings the second half of the semester.

The station I interned at this summer is hiring...which is exciting! The problem, they're needing people now, not in May when I graduate as will thousands of other college students. Joy. Encouraging somehow...but not quite the solace I need. Which is why I'm working on my website right now (www.jobethdavis.com) It's a serious work in progress but I'm learning (slowly) the tools I need to build it and gathering media for it.

Also this semester I'm already cranking out stories for Missouri News Horizon, an upstart in-depth political reporting website launching in February. Got my butt kicked last week in cranking out a story with next to no notice, but thanks to two awesome group-mates everything got done, and I think the final product was awesome! Here's to hoping we get a little more notice from now on since this was only the first week. I think Sam, Kelsey and I work together really well which should ease my stress level for the semester considerably.

AAAAAND capstone...Kelsey and I (awesome that we're working together on two projects) and working with media mind @jenleereeves aka Jen at KOMU on amping up KOMU's use of social media. As an experiment we ran a live blog through the KOMU website and facebook on CoveritLive for the State of the Union Address. I was way skeptical about live blogging (granted, doing this was my idea) but we decided as a last minute thing to do it. WAY COOL! All we did was embed the code in our facebook and station websites and tweet references to it, and we attracted 35 people to read the blog we were putting out. This was with no mention on the newscasts at all. I think for Mid-Missouri being as media-slow as it is, this was an awesome response. And definitely something KOMU needs to do again in the future.

So...that was my journalism spiel. On to what I started to blog about...

A couple months ago I found a a Photo Essay that hit kind of close to home:

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1930475,00.html

Anyone that knows me knows I LOVE my dogs. There's nothing I want more (ok, maybe a job) than a puppy of my own to raise. I've never lived without a dog until I came to school and I've honestly had some animal-separation issues. But in being the responsible person that I am, I realize there's really not much room in an undergraduate's life for a dog. I have issues just finding time to take care of myself, let alone trying to manage a four-legged friend.

Something not many people know about me is what I went through with my grandparents when I was a little girl. I lost both grandparents on my dad's side when I was 7. I barely remember them. I lost my grandmother on my mom's side to a long bout with cancer when I was 10, the memories I have of her were mostly of her being sick. And my final grandparent, my grandfather on my mom's side, died on Christmas morning my freshman year in high school. He's probably the grandparent I remember the most, but he spent most of his older years living in a nursing home, so that's where I remember him the most.

I especially remember taking our Dog at the time, Big Guy (A Great Dane/Blue Healer Mix) to his nursing homes to visit him and the other residents. What a hit. Our gentle, fuzzy giant was a favorite by all. I also remember Ace, the therapy dog (Black Lab) on my g-pa's Alzheimer's unit floor. I remember thinking what a world of good visits from those dogs brought. There are other people like me out there who love dogs who just can't have one. And I was absolutely thrilled when I came across this photo essay...all people who had rescued an animal from a shelter and trained them to be therapy dogs.

I want to do this. I want to do this SO MUCH. Doing this lets me rescue an animal, have a pet for myself, and give back to a community be it a nursing home, foster system, school, anything. I absolutely love this idea. It's truly a goal of mine and I can't wait!

I've got another 6 months or so until I can even think about being able to do this...so in the mean time I'm helping this way:

http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=15539990

Great Dane Rescue of the Ozarks is where my family rescued my dog Nila from.

They just received 6 puppies, all of them have Parvo. All 6 puppies are out of the woods but vet bills for something like Parvo are massive. The small group of people that run GDRO can't absorb that kind of financial shock. They're asking for donations to help cover their vet costs.

I can't give much but I'm going to try to help. This is a group close to my heart. And who knows, maybe one of those puppies will still be around in 6 months when I'm ready to adopt :)