Barney's BendBlog

Testing the new options here

2010-03-13T01:06:00.001-08:00

And of course, running into problems - the new looks don't show! Argh!

Scary

2008-06-07T11:31:00.001-07:00

My darling wife Deb has been looking for a job for 18 MONTHS, and no luck.

Now, with the economy suffering, well... unemployment running out and ... if you can spare a prayer or three, please send them our way. Thanks.

This is a test... of the video embedding system

2008-05-31T11:32:00.000-07:00

From KTVZ.COM:

Why don't I blog more?

2008-04-19T11:11:00.000-07:00

I guess it's becuase I write for a living, so... no excuse, just the facts.

I have lots to say, but twice a week, get to say it on teevee and consider my Face for Radio very lucky to have that!

How can I bug my KTVZ comrades to start blogs we can incorporate into the Website if I don't even post to mine every week or two? Hypocritical I suppose.

Testing 1-2-3...

2007-09-09T12:51:00.000-07:00

A wee bit cumbersome (why you can't just upload a photo directly through Blogger rather than through Picasa but.. anyway, here's one for posterity, as they want me to wark dark suitcoat from now on (but thankfully they let me skip the tie and makeup;-)

Oh for goodness sake, you can add pix easier now - they sure didn't explain that the route I went from profiles, but... here!

Whoops! I want that pic down HERE... I mean there! Oh well, that's what HTML cut/paste is for;-)

There's me on right, brother Rick in middle and brother Pete on left, back in March. Hard to believe he was gone two months later. Still hurts my heart to think about it..

Back in the saddle again...

2007-09-09T11:26:00.000-07:00

Many months ago, after Blogger upgraded itself, I got stuck in a user name/password vortex that made getting back into this blog impossible without divine intervention.

Or the passage of a few months. Now, the system seems to have been ready for someone like me, and voila, a password reset and I'm back (see title line;-)

With all my irons (I've run out of fire), who knows how often I'll update here, but at least I now have this orphaned blog back in my control!;-)

So suggest stuff to write about - not TV-related but well, anyway, now that I'm on air twice a week (gulp) - I don't need this avenue, but what the heck, one can never have too many ways to say howdy and vent or whatever. (And it's a lot cleaner than MySpace and less depressing/limiting to a seemingly man-of-few-friends than Facebook.)

Why are manual publishers so spineless?

2006-06-11T13:26:00.000-07:00

I just installed WillMaker Plus 2006 on my PC (hey, ya turn 50, you think of such things), and before I even looked at the manual - hey, it's nice to even get a manual on paper these days - I knew that if I turned it sideways - the way one puts a manual on a bookshelf - it would say... nothing.

And it does. I mean, it doesn't.

When in the name of Random House did makers of software/hardware/devices (cell phones for example) decide that even if a book is thick enough to have a spine, there should be no words on it to help people find the blasted thing later? Talk about lack of user-friendliness!

And there's another thing - why do folks like HP, who are in the same boat in terms of the Empty Spine Syndrome, also decide not to put everything in one manual, but instead to have two, three or four? Let's see, there's the Getting Started Guide, the PC Troubleshooting and System Recovery Guide, the Warranty and Support Guide, the PC Basics Guide, the Upgrading and Servicing Guide, the MONITOR Warranty and Support Guide....

Get the picture? Just try to figure out which has what. Of course, most of them are so thin, they are, well, spineless. And it may save them a dime or two, not to have to reprint everything when updating one of them, but ... c'mon folks, where's the usability in so many different guides to sort, stash, thumb through and, of course, lose the one you're looking for? (I will give them credit for putting them all in a zippered plastic bag, but... still...)

Oh, I know, its all on the PC, or on the CD/DVD, or online, so no worries! Poppycock and balderdash. If you're GONNA make paper manuals, which I do like, PLEASE make them useful and usable. And amongst all the useless shortcuts, desktop or start-menu-wise, why not create one to THE place online where all these manuals reside, in constantly updated fashion?

Dream on, I suppose. It's like asking why I need the French, Spanish and German version of every consumer manual I get. Not.

Still, if blogging is good for anything, it's good for venting.

So there!;-)

Serendipity calls: New Paul Simon, Chicago AND Toto?!?

2006-04-21T21:50:00.000-07:00

Well, as I pour my heart and soul into my work, for TV and online, once in a while a burst of joy in other areas, the best kind - unexpected.

For example, I had no idea that Toto was still at it, and has a brand new album out, called "Falling in Between." Their "Seventh One" album from '88, I had on CASETTE (remember those?) and almost wore out, that band of "studio musicians" has always been a favorite.

And Paul Simon has a new one, too, called "Surprise" - and it will be, no cuts were available at Amazon, which kindly informed me by e-mail of the album's existence.

And noodling around Amazon, found Chicago XXX is out. I grew up with that band, and while not every song is hit material, I'm a loyal, true-blue fan, for the history and all they've meant to so many over the years.

So they're all on the way, and I'll share one thought: These musicians, still at the height of their creativity, tell this newly 50-year-old journalist to keep on rockin' at the news;-)

Nothing makes me smile as much as good music from old friends -- well, except maybe beating everyone else in town to a good story;-)

Merry Christmas!

2005-12-25T15:19:00.000-08:00

Wow, what a year. Lots of change and ups and downs and good and bad and...

Well, that's normal, huh?

Sorry I haven't posted lately. Been real busy working on the new NewsChannel21.com Website, coming to a PC near you Real Soon Now.

I have lots to be thankful for, and I don't mean the toys that have come my way this fall. I'm thankful the snow melted so people don't kill themselves traveling to visit friends and family. I'm thankful the folks at the TV station have welcomed me with open arms and in true family fashion (read between the lines, folks;-)

And I'm thankful my brother Pete is still with us, despite some terrible health challenges. And I pray with all my heart he's here to yak about gadgets for many years to come.

And I wish all of you health and happiness in '06. It's not a novel wish, but it's heartfelt.

Eureka, I solved my OWN PC problem (for a change;-)

2005-11-25T22:20:00.000-08:00

It's always a triumph when you find the source of a baffling PC problem all by yourself.

I'd noticed for a few days through the ZoneAlarm traffic icon that I was getting a lot of constant outbound traffic, ALL the time.

Uh-oh, I thought - the folks who go looking for free WiFi had started slurping my bandwidth by the megabit. I ran spyware programs - nothing. I ran Shields Up! from Steve Gibson - great lil program - and it said "hey, you are one STEALTHED PC!" Cool! So what was going on?

I have a Maxtor One-Touch external 100Gig hard drive that uses Dantz Retrospect HD backup software. That, too, was acting up - hanging and unable to show my restore points. I figured the two problems were connected somehow, but the first efforts to find stuff on either company's Website were fruitless.

Tonight, I tried squelching any nefarious WiFi users by trying the MAC filtering on my Linksys. Took some futzing - but nope, the traffic still was going hot and heavy, outbound only.

So I went back to the Maxtor Website and finally found answers to my questions - it appeared it was either .NET Framework 2.0 (an "optional" update I should have skipped - it's NOT the first time .NET Framework has given me grief over the years) or ZoneAlarm itself that was causing my grief.

I futzed with ZoneAlarm for a bit, but then uninstalled .NET Framework 2.0, which apparently restores it to 1.1 with hotfixes (since those also are in Add/Remove Programs). One reboot later, the external hard drive was just fine and I was seeing ZA in my task tray, not a solid green bar.

Basically, the Retrospect Express software uses .NET to communicate, over TCP/IP. So it got stalled on the newer version and was screaming at itself, or something like that.

I couldn't fix my own car if I had to. I leave back-breaking (oy, I've had pains there in recent weeks) jobs like a wonderful new paint job inside our home (and crown moulding!) to the pros (and pay what it's worth.) But once in a while, it's nice to solve my own tech problems, without even needing my brother Pete, the tech-wiz of the family, or my friends who were too busy to lend a hand.

I don't blame ZoneAlarm - in fact, it gave me a clue something was amiss. And Maxtor's site DID have the answer, once I really started looking for it.

Huzzah!!!;-)

Thanks and giving

2005-11-24T19:32:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting on my sofa, next to my brother Rick, watching an episode of "The Prisoner" I recorded off BBC America. Ah, what a great series, full of symbolism and allegory and hidden meanings.

Dinner was wonderful, as usual. My wonderful wife's a great cook.

This year has brought many challenges, and many blessings. Far be it for me to tally whether one topped the other. The coming year promises more of the same, Lord willing.

Speaking of great music...

2005-11-05T22:07:00.000-08:00

My niece Jenn tonight turned me onto a young piano virtuoso named William Joseph. They heard him the other night when he opened for Clay Aiken at the start of his tour, in Portland. Beautiful stuff, do check it out!

Fine fall for albums

2005-11-04T21:49:00.000-08:00

Any fall with new music from Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney can't be all bad.

But what do I know? I also loved Elton John's "Peachtree Road," out late last year, which didn't exactly set the singles chart ablaze. But I could live on those three artists' amazing music catalogs and never need another album.

Old fogey, I suppose;-)

Technolust Pt. 2 (laptop edition)

2005-10-16T21:44:00.000-07:00

Ah, Websurfing from the comfort of my easy chair. Long dreamed, now realized, thanks to that home refinance (making possible a Linksys wi-fi router) and my brother Pete, who handed off a 5-year-old HP OmniBook 6000 that was gathering dust.

It got a bit tricky to swap out the router (instructions never presume you already have one - that'll change in the future, I presume) but I'm VERY impressed by the speed I'm getting with this "prehistoric" notebook (Pentium 3, "only" 256MB of memory, etc.) It shows to go ya - the upgrade we did to the new DOCSIS 2.0 cable modem and top-tier Bend Broadband service (4.5 mbps at least, for about $50/month) is FAR more important than the processor in terms of surfing enjoyment.

Even before I try it out at a Starbuck's or somesuch, I'm free! Untethered from the "computer room" at last. Big thanks to the bro, who faces the next step in his cancer battle this week, and is in a whole lotta folks' hopes and prayers.

I'm also again impressed with HP. I've always been a big fan of their printers, and now with the new MediaCenter PC (it's on the Nov. Computer Shopper cover - first time I've had a cover PC since my Tandy 1000 20 years ago!) with my awesome 19-inch flat screen, and this old but so nice OmniBook, I've deepened my respect and admiration for the company.

I've had a not-great reason to try out HP's tech support: the new PC's remote doesn't work. Without going into all the messy details, at least for now, I have found their online live-chat with techs very helpful, several times. Yep, for now, I've gotta say; HP stands for Helpful People. (And no, they didn't pay me to say it;-)

Woohoo! Technolust!

2005-10-02T00:09:00.000-07:00

OK, first off, I do feel guilty. I bought my last 2-3 PCs locally, from DSI, and they do great stuff.

But a confluence of events led me in a new direction as I replaced my pretty darn trusty 3-year-old machine. New issue of PC Mag gives Editor's Choice kudos (for the value end of "content creation" PCs) to the HP Media Center m7160.

I decide on a what-the-heck to check Costco - and there it sits, with a big 19-inch monitor drawing me in - in fact, it's the m7167c and that has a 300-gig HD (up from the 250) in the review. A Pentium dual-core processor, gig of memory, etc. for $1,499.

So I did it, with all the trepidation of a John Dvorak (who writes in the same issue of PC Mag how lousy it is to upgrade PCs and move stuff over, etc.)

I've been down that often bumpy road, but tonight - knock on silicon, again - the smoothest I've ever had. (Getting a 100-gig Maxtor external HD earlier made the whole transfer much easier). Even Microsoft is in for kudos - again (I gave them some earlier for their real strong effort to help me solve my old PC's woes) - as the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard actually did its thing.

I had looked at Shuttles - the small-form factor PC, so cool, quiet too - though some tech friends bemoaned the relative hassle for any later expansion (I don't usually expand, I just upgrade and hand off the old PC to someone in need.) All the nasty talk about Dell led me in another direction.

So here I sit, just after midnight, using my new, pretty darn quiet wireless keyboard and mouse and staring in awe at a screen that is like an IMax compared to my old 15-incher.

I do have stock in HP - OK, just one share;-) - and have always loved their printers. But dang, can you color me impressed. We all hear the horror stories, but rarely hear from those who are blessed to get a box that works right out of the box. Ya never know what tomorrow may bring, but for now - hats off to them.

ARRGH! How dare you, Blogger!

2005-09-25T11:04:00.000-07:00

Oh that's RICH. I get some Deep Thoughts in my Blogger editing tool, and for the very first time since I started this, the damn thing craps out on me - I get a page-error and back up and the words are all gone.

Wise, wonderful words.

No wonder people write this stuff in Word or notepad or whatever and then cut/paste. I just hadn't been bit til now!

Okay, I'll try again....

Update: How about that! It didn't eat my words after all, there they are, down below! Maybe they survived cuz I just laughed, rather than get mad, and the Karma Gods decided "oh what the heck...";-)

Guilt wise: Is blogging like parenting?

2005-09-25T11:01:00.000-07:00

I have no kids, but I do have this (and this - when WILL Squarespace and its easy Website tool get the attention it so richly deserves?) so ... pardon me if this is old philosophizing, the thoughts are there...

It's the 21st Century version of "do we own or stuff, or does our stuff own us?"

Blogger-style.

Come on, folks, admit it - if you go more than a day or three without updating your little corner of the blogosphere, you can practically hear it wailing at you from every Net-enabled PC: "Feed me!" (Insert basso profundo voice of "Little Shop of Horrors" carnivorous plant here;-)

I have a friend who has taken to actually taking his two days away from work also away from blogging. (I can't blog at work because, well, it just wouldn't be kosher!) And when I go there, and there's nothing new, I try not to "harrumph." Cuz we all deserve, need and want our time away from these infernal PCs (I really DO want something where I can mix the two, and am still debating the cheap notebook vs. Cybook vs. Pepper Pad thoughts.)

Of course, Jake has kids, so he MUST have more important things to do with his days off than blog. But what's my excuse? Laziness? No. Nothing to say? Ask anyone who knows me - that's NOT it.

But just maybe, I want to own my blog rather than the other way around.

It reminds me of what happens in journalism ( and probably every other working situation), where the little day to day stuff just slides into and out of your life like no problem, but the Big Project just sits on your noggin like a Ton O' Guilt, and is harder and harder to avoid, but also harder and harder to make any progress on, because you've made A Very Big Thing out of it, and you CAN'T just whisk that out in an hour or a day, can you?

I keep meaning to join Procrastinators Anonymous but (insert punchline here).

Anyway, one doesn't have to go all Thoreau or Gandhi to realize that the Path of More and More Stuff is inherently dissatisfying. My wife and I, we pray, are turning over a New Leaf and not sliding back into the Pit of Endless Credit.

I'm rambling. I can do this, I own this blog. It does NOT own me. On the other hand, if I want people to read it, I have to make a point ONCE in a while.

And yes, I've read some things somewhere that talk about how blogging is NOT about the reading but the writing, about putting one's voice and thoughts Out There. But come on, be honest, don't we all cry for a Gold Star on our forehead, a fervent round of applause, a simple "ya done good!" from someone whose views you admire and respect?

So maybe blogging isn't like parenting.

It's just like life. The good, the bad, and hopefully not the ugly.

Religions have been based on less;-)

Busy, in a good way

2005-09-25T10:46:00.000-07:00

Sorry so long between posts.

Deb and I gave up trying to find a house we liked in Bend (more than our own) for anything CLOSE to what we could afford.

Instead, we did what I bet a lot of folks are doing - a refinance, to get the equity out (after just three years - such a boomtown, why not take advantage?) and put it into both paying off bills and upgrading the house - new, more energy-effieicent appliance, a new computer for Yours Truly, etc.

We're also in need of (finally) putting in a backyard fence, and are eyeing some remodeling in both the kitchen and the master bath. All that'll boost this place's resale value - that is, if we can ever find another place we can afford that we like;-)

Hurricanes and heartache: Memories of Betsy

2005-08-30T08:30:00.000-07:00

This week has brought back memories of when I was 9 years old and living in New Orleans when Hurricane Betsy stormed in, 40 years ago next month.

Our family left our mobile home and stayed the night on the second floor of apartments where my folks had lived previously. As everyone says, you never forget that roar of wind - especially in the dark, especially as a child.

Our station wagon was totaled, but miraculously, our mobile home floated during the storm, coming down almost on its blocks. The following year, in Cocoa, Fla., my stepmom was actually IN the same trailer (let's be honest -a 60-by-10 foot mobile home IS a trailer) when tornadoes tore through C. Florida and blew up trailers to either side of ours (unoccupied, with windows closed - the big air-pressure difference sealed their doom.)

Anyway, my heartfelt prayers for better times goes out to all hit hard by this tragedy. As a "Betsy veteran," I'm not thinking of the other impacts right now (high gas prices for example), but all the poor (literally in most cases) people left with so little. God tests us all in varied ways, but ... some worse than others;-/

I (maybe) FOUND my 21st Century Etch-A-Sketch!

2005-08-29T20:38:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, I wrote:

I still remember the Oregonian piece, about 8 years ago, with a photo of a red-framed Internet tablet, about the same size/shape as the old Etch-A-Sketch of days of yore.

I still want my cheap ($300 or less), lightweight, long-lasting, droppable, broadband Net surfer, that can sit in my lap (without roasting it) in the living room, surfing while my wife reads or watches TV or whatever.

THEN the world will change.

Well, I spotted a brief blurb in Mobile magazine, and lo and behold, something much like what I want is about to hit the shelves - albeit, almost three times my desired price point. It's called the Pepper Pad, and looks pretty nifty (an Amazon reviewer pointed out a couple flaws, but nothing's perfect;-)

So maybe I don't have to buy a $750 laptop that has stuff I don't need/want, or is too darn heavy. I just may sign up for BendBroadband's new home WiFi service (about to upgrade to their 6mbps cable-modem service - wow!) - and I settle for the compromises. (One question I faced: Do I avoid Dell, or presume Jeff and others like him have had a bad experience? I can't spend $2,000 on something like this.)

I previously said: I surely hope the battery, display and broadband (WiMax, please! My brother's an Intel consultant on that very issue) matters get solved in the next few years. I want my window to the world, cheap, in my lap - capable of reading any book or magazine I own or subscribe to, bright, sharp, clear, etc. Maybe not even always connected, but more cell-like, as I ride in a car or such. Oh boy!

Then again, another way to possibly get there from here, without spending over $400 or so, is the Cybook, which again has tradeoffs (slow processor, not a lot of RAM) but is at the right pricepoint if one is willing to download eBooks into a bright, color screen and not needing to be connected to the Net at all times.

So there's options, and hopefully more on the way. Hey, a guy can dream - and maybe dreams can come true, slowly but surely?;-)

Typewriters never say die

2005-08-28T11:50:00.000-07:00

Fun piece in The Oregonian today (found it online at another site) about how young people are rediscovering the simple joy of pounding on keys that actually strike a page.

Best line is from a Portlander, Jake Shivery of Blue Moon Camera and Machine: "There is no button on a typewriter which will lose your documents." ;-)

My Smith-Corona electric typewriter had that nifty slide-in ribbon cartridge - having spent many an evening changing messy ribbons on UPI teletype machines, it was nice to avoid getting ink-stained hands - plus, there was a correct-type cartridge that you could use to "white out" mistakes without having to use those little bottles of White Out and blow the paper dry.

Ahh, memories. Computers can do so much more, of course, but ... simpler can be better

We're No. 1, and pass the pizza please...

2005-08-23T20:59:00.000-07:00

So we're the only state that didn't get fatter last year?

How about that, I'm part of a trend - my docs (after a REAL fun Fantastic Voyage up and down my body) are telling me to lose weight, eat better and have smaller, more frequent meals, get more exercise - and, of course, cut down on stress. (Oh, and pay that bill pronto;-)

I'm workin' on it. Cut waay back on Coke, even found a Diet 7-Up Plus Splenda-fueled cherry drink that doesn't make me gag. Elliptical trainer is getting more use, and ... nah, I won't say it here, I'll just jinx myself. But I'm working to get better - not perfect, just better.

Yahoogle, or GooGoo?

2005-08-23T20:05:00.000-07:00

What IF Yahoo! and Google were to merge, or one were to acquire the other? Which name would it be?
I read today that Google is looking at getting in the IM business. They could do a lot worse than buying Trillian. Maybe they could call it Gillian? Or would it be Troogle?
Aren't words fun?;-)

Nobody doesn't like Sara Lee's math

2005-08-20T09:23:00.000-07:00

From the "nutrition facts" on the side of a loaf o' bread (do they really ship it all the way from Mo.? Should I feel guilty for not supporting local bakers? But I digress...)

Calories: 110
Calories from fat: 10

Then, ever so helpfully, they add:

Calories per 2 slices: 210
Calories from fat: 25

Huh??? The calories per slice DROP when you eat two slices? But the calories from fat go UP? I'm no food scientist, or mathematician, but ... that's pretty durn bizarre;-)

Long time no talk so sorry

2005-07-06T23:08:00.000-07:00

Hmm, well, some very eagle-eyed folks might know one reason why I haven't had much to say here.

Let's just say I naively had to be reminded that I work for a company again, and that it's really not smart to ... well open one's mouth and insert one's foot. I can be so naive, but I try not to be a total lamebrain.

Anyway, am still settling into my TV job, after about five months, and each day brings its little successes and frustrations and ... hey, it's a job, ya know?

After three months, the foot (see my car-crash post) still isn't quite normal, so for that and other reasons I've gone to see a new doctor, with whom I did one of those awful things: total honesty. So now, even before the big 5-0, I'm going to have a real joyful Fantastic Voyage trip up my whoohoo and down my big fat mouth. If that doesn't teach me, nothin' will.

Enough. I'll weigh in more often, I think. Just have to find the right words. Oh man, that sent me to the crates of LPs, and a 1978 album - yes ALBUM, not CD - by a guy named Mike Finnigan. In the days when liner notes didn't require bifocals or electron microscopes. No lyrics posted, but the song The Words - I remember them so well:

Where do the words come from when you need them
They make themselves so hard to use
Well I wouldn't have a date with the blues
If I could only find the words ...

I would shout out my story
With a heavenly glory
If I could only find the words

What is it like, Capt. Steinbeck?
Do you worry about the things you missed?
Well I do and I hurry
Like a fool from 9 to 5
Trying to keep my words alive

I would shout out my story
With a heavenly glory
If I could only find the words...

And that's what I do, even now. The words are important on TV, though for me, they come far easier than all the technical/procedural pieces of the video puzzle.

Anyway, hope all's well with all of you. Off to bed...;-)

Ouch. Whew, but ouch.

2005-04-03T21:18:00.000-07:00

This way I don't have to retell ad nauseam.
Went out this afternoon to hit Barnes and Noble with Brother Rick's gift card, but never made it.
That darn two-lane stretch of 27th Street bit me - or actually, allowed me to bite myself.
That and Daylight Savings Time.
But primarily, my own stupidity.
It began to rain. I looked down to recall how to change the clock, Spring Forward, for, um, dunno, 2 seconds?
Looked up. Car that was 50 yards ahead of me was now only about 25, and had STOPPED. (To turn left).
I STOOD on the brakes, laid rubber, and STILL, the front of my '98 Protege hit the back boat-anchor bumper of a 1985 Chevy Caprice at, I'd guess, 15 mph.
Thankfully, we didn't go into the oncoming lane or ditch. Air bag didn't deploy, etc.
The kid (16?) at the wheel and his grandmother got out after we both pulled over into Eastside Garden's parking lot.
I got out, and could tell immediately I'd messed up my right foot somehow.
The lady in passenger seat said her head whipped a bit. Oh boy.
Checked their back bumper. Not a scratch, you couldn't tell.
My front bumper, however, has a quite artistic twisted-metal license plate now, and a significant, um, crease/dimple in the bumper behind it.
Exchanged info, drove home, then Deb took me to Bend Memorial's urgent care. I could wiggle my toes - a good sign. Doc tried various "does this hurt" combos and believes I only strained (sprained?) my "forefoot." It doesn't hurt when I don't move, but walking is, um, difficult.
So I'm hobbling - he suggested ice (of course), elevation, Tylenol, etc.
Hurts when I walk, for sure. We have a cane I'll try to use, but weirdly, it feels better in shoe than out. (They tried a rigid-bottom, lace-up "cast shoe" on me, but that made it hurt like the dickens. Not great barefoot either.)
Reminds me of 20 years ago when I broke little toe going to bathroom one night. My UPI boss at the time called me after I'd taken a few days off to remind me, "Ya don't type with your toes!"
Ah, sensitivity.
Well, with the newsroom consultants in town this week, it means more sitting in meetings than usual anyway, thank goodness.
Doc warned it'll probably get worse for 2-3 days, then SHOULD start to feel better. If not, THEN go in and have them X-ray for a stress (hairline) fracture that he says wouldn't likely have shown up in X-ray today anyway (so we didn't do that.)
So I can work, I'll just be moving as little as possible.
Am VERY thankful it wasn't worse, for either car. Between my foot and Deb's wrist (in a splint for another week), we're a pair.
Oy.

I love my brother...

2005-02-25T22:37:00.000-08:00

...well, all three of them, actually.

But this is about Pete -- good ol', dependable, sometimes cranky but rock-solid Pietro. He and I have shared a special bond for, um, 15 years or so, since we both got into computers and tech, with his specialties in a) collecting as many gadgets, esp. PDAs of various generations as possible and b) always coming up with the BEST deals (saved my wife Deb's church group a tidy sum on their laptop with a deep-discount one-day-only deal). He knows eBay like the back of his hand - me, I couldn't figure out how to get a good deal there if ya bought me three Dummies books;-)

This is the guy who did the Jewish Guilt Trip better than anyone in our family when the Big Tragedy hit in 1965 (this item is a downer enough without details - the joke I've often told to head off the details is that my Family Tree turned to Mulch at a young age;-/

He developed an ulcer before he even became a teen. I externalized - wanting to fix things in a troubled family, earning the nickname Babblin' Barn - he internalized. The Big Tragedy also took its toll on our two older brothers, in differing ways, as well.

Anyway, Pete called the other night, and I can't ever remember hearing that frightened edge in his voice. I knew something was terribly amiss.

Malignant tumor. Esophogeal cancer.

Not the words you want any loved one to hear, but alas, sigh, argh, etc., it happens.

He'll do what needs to be done. It's operable, thank God. I'm sure Melissa, his wife, and their kids are damn scared. Of course.

But I refuse to believe God has it in for him. We've been through enough, and he has a family that loves him and wants him around for a good many years.

I'm sure my wonderful wife, Deb - home tonight from a record two-week business trip (with a wonderful perk of meeting her darlin' 5-year-old great-niece Sarah Elizabeth) will put Petey on a prayer chain, and our older brother Rick, who has done a phenomenal job of Life Turnaround in the past 10 years or so (so proud of him) will use his spiritual foundation to do the same.

Me, I'll call Dial-A-Prayer and make it collect. (I can hear Rick correcting me now;-)

But as usual, even for a news-numbed journalist, it surely puts things in perspective, as scary things usually do. I'm still wrapping my mind and heart and soul around my new TV gig, and hoping I can make that work well. But this is much more important, of course.

And this lil entry is just a chance for me to do what us Mumblin' Stumblin' Guys (especially us Lertens) do far too little, until times get tough - tell him I love him, am proud of what he's done with his life, and will do anything he needs or wants to help him get better.

Pete and I have had our spats over the years. Never big ones, though. We see things alike, but not always. He can nag in that Big Brother way, to make sure I do the right thing. But it's never a harangue, never a drill sergeant or bossy mentality. Love is the foundation, and a shared love of things like Steely Dan, the latest cool gizmo, a good cheesesteak (or pizza - ugh, there's the rub) and Tastykake.

If only we could upgrade the bod the way we can our PCs and gadgets. Pete, ya damn well better stick around for the nifty new stuff coming down the pike. It's time for a fight, and to use any and every excuse to laugh, hug and take your mind off It. Don't let It overwhelm you, or send you packing. We all need you, and love you.

Now go create that great blog to share your great deals and more. I'll be happy to typo-catch;-)

Reporting is easy, TV is hard!

2005-02-19T19:30:00.000-08:00

Two weeks in, and I feel like a cub reporter. A clueless newbie, as it were.

Oh, I've had lots of stories on the air, beating the paper on lots of things. But I've yet to touch a camera, much less shoot or edit any video. That's coming, I know.

But I was so spoiled, even in my newspaper/wire service days, much less on the Web, with its infinite "news hole." TV (like radio) is where The Clock Rules, a minute is an eternity to just watch someone sit and talk. Fresh, live action! Snappy pace!

I'd forgotten how difficult it is to write so tightly. It's not about leaving things out, it's about getting the very most important, key elements in, and letting your video fill in the blanks in ways that a static image or printed words can never do.

And as we get more copy on their Website, it's also clear that you can't just slap broadcast copy on the Web and figure it'll work. It won't. Broadcast copy is meant to be read aloud, and to be heard. That's a whole different thing. It's not just cut and paste.

Wish me luck!;-)

Finally, I can talk...

2005-02-09T23:13:00.000-08:00

It's been almost a month since the call I'd dreaded for close to five years, ever since I went to work for my boss at Bend.com, Spencer Dahl: He'd run out of funds to pay me.

Yuck. It was a wonderful ride, one that many people were kind enough to tell us they appreciated. But I knew things had gotten tight.

I didn't want to move. I've come to love Central Oregon, and loved that job right up until the end. But I had to act, fast. My wife has a real good job as well, but no way was it going to cover things.

So I frantically networked - and this week, I landed on my feet. I'm the new ... well, here's the press release that went out today:

Barney Lerten, a prolific 14-year veteran of Central Oregon print, Internet and broadcast journalism, has joined the staff of KTVZ NewsChannel 21 as Assistant News Director, the station announced Wednesday.

Lerten has spent the past five busy years as senior reporter and managing editor of Bend.com, generating hundreds of stories a month on every facet of High Desert news, events, issues and people. Now, he takes up a new challenge, assisting “Central Oregon’s News Leader” in its daily efforts to inform, explain, illuminate and engage its audience on that same wide variety of High Desert news coverage.

“We couldn’t be more pleased to welcome Barney aboard, and we know that his insight, professionalism and wealth of experience will prove invaluable to our coverage of the region,” said Lee Anderson, KTVZ News Director.

“It’s definitely a new and exciting challenge for me, and one I’m grateful to undertake,” said Lerten, 49, who spent 14 years with United Press International in San Francisco and Portland before moving to Bend and joining The Bulletin in early 1991. In recent months, he also provided daily news reports on Redmond radio station KRDM, New Talk 1240.

“I’m excited about this new opportunity,” Lerten said, “and I’m looking forward to staying as busy as ever, both in the newsroom and out and about – not to mention helping to develop a truly first-class Website that Central Oregonians can turn to.”

KTVZ, now also broadcasting on digital TV channel 18, has become an integral member of the Central Oregon community over the past 28 years, offering a variety of entertainment, public affairs and news programming as a member of the NBC network. NewsChannel 21 is owned by NPG of Oregon, a subsidiary of News-Press and Gazette Broadcasting Co. of St. Joseph, Mo.

So ... there it is. I'm three days in, and already getting stories on-air, though I've yet to shoot video, appear on-camera, etc. (I'll spare you the on-set still they sent out with the release - lordy lordy, someone get a mask;-)

I've got a lot to learn, believe me. But I also have a lot to offer, in terms of knowledge of the region, journalism stuff (like fairness, accuracy, etc.) and the plain ol' daily hustle to beat, as Lars Larson would put it, "The Daily Dead Fish-Wrapper."

The people you see on TV here in Central Oregon, and those behind the scenes have been very kind and welcoming, even forgiving of my bad jokes and puns (Lee Anderson and I, alas, have somewhat similar senses of humor - but also, thankfully, similar approaches to news judgment, etc.)

With all the acronyms, the coding of rundowns (what TV folk use to assemble a newscast), not to mention video shooting and editing with their fancy new digital system, it'll take a bit of time before I feel at ease. That also means it could be some time before I can have a big impact on their Website - and I'm asking folks for patience in the meantime. But I have a hunch I'll live up to their expectations, and my own (the biggest pressure I ever feel is what I put on myself;-)

Whether weather weathers well?

2005-01-08T20:47:00.000-08:00

Hmmm. A friend's note prompted this mini-vent: Why does the Weather Channel seemingly just try to confuse us at times?

My beef: They use the National Weather Service to post local info in terms of heavy snow warnings, tornado warnings, etc. But sometimes, that info conflicts with the forecasts as presented by the Weather Channel itself.

Case in point: Yesterday, all day, they carried a "heavy snow warning" from the NWS for Central Oregon, immediately followed by their own forecast, which called for ... an inch of slushy snow. They (the Weather Channel folk) were right, by the way - this is the second straight weekend where the feds warned of heavy snow that didn't materialize. (I should be careful - we might have a half-foot of snow by tomorrow. Or... not.)

Anyway, my point is, either rely on your own forecast, or don't. Don't confuse us with two markedly different ones. How does that help anybody?

Vent off;-)

A Web surfer that slips in your pocket

2004-12-21T21:26:00.000-08:00

It's not the fastest lil thing, but it sure is a cute way to surf the Web!;-) (See item below for more details)

Moxi and Pocket Surfer: My two new toys

2004-12-21T20:54:00.000-08:00

Coincidentally, two very interesting fun dealy-bobs just came into my life.

One is the latest and greatest (IMHO) way to "surf TV" as you do the Web. It's a two-tuner DVR that Bend Broadband is offering, from Paul Allen's company, digeo. It's called Moxi. (To see my article about it, click here.)

Then there's one I read about recently in Time and decided, for the price, I just had to try it. It's called the Pocket Surfer, from Datawind and it's a Web surfer that's about the size of a checkbook (and not much heavier). It costs just $200 and uses your cell phone to connect to the Web via Bluetooth (if your phone, like mine, isn't Bluetooth-enabled, you can get a little USB-connect Bluetooth dongle to make that wireless connection.)

I've drooled over similar form-factor "palmtop PCs" for years, but the $800-plus price tag always scared me off - what if I drop the thing or leave it somewhere by accident? (Or break it?) When I saw the price, I figured this was the Christmas toy for me.

The "cool factor" alone is worth a good chunk of the price - which is fortunate, because despite a couple positive reviews and the touting of it's speed, it's been a bit pokey for me. (Whether that has anything to do with Sprint not supporting using phones as modems and having to use it by the minute, rather than megabyte, I don't know.)

But the pages render accurately, and you can click through and use the thumb keyboard to enter info in forms, etc. I still dream of a faster lil device, about the same size, with file storage, word processing, etc., for a similar price point. But this is a door to the future, and like CompuServe in 1985 or America Online in 1990, you can see the promise coming down the pike to reality. I'm jazzed!;-) (This image is of the top of the Bend.com home page.)

Oy, what I would give...

2004-12-05T11:41:00.000-08:00

...for someone to at least tell me the kind of device I'm about to describe is possible. Within the rest of my lifetime. For less than a small fortune:

I'm a reporter. I skipped third grade, so I'm sure I missed some handwriting classes. Ever since, my handwriting has sucked, especially when someone is speaking fast and I'm trying to get down every interesting word. It's sort of a self-encryption - if I don't transcribe the notes within 12-24 hours, even I can't make out what it says. (It's why I love phone interviews - not out of sheer laziness - well, not just that - but I'm a real fast typist, so those notes are 1,000 times better.)

Sooo.... there's voice-recognition software out there, right? Getting better all the time? But apparently you still have to train the thing? I'd LOVE to tape interviews, rather than scribble them, then upload the audio file and have a program turn it into text! Heck, I'd settle for 30 percent accuracy, that'd be better than my stinkin' notes!

My friend/co-worker Jesse told me it'd take more processing power than anyone has at the moment. But "Utterly Boring" Jake agrees with me that'd it be so useful to so many folks.

So ... am I dreaming? Will it arrive in another 50 years, too late for me? Or ...

Oh and another invention idea, my wife Deb and I had - why not sell scrapbooking software IN a scrapbook? (And photo album software IN/with a photo album, for that matter?) With the pages and the software set for those pages? Clip art built in, the whole package together, "hardware" and software? I've thumbed through scrapbooking magazines and haven't seen that, have I missed it? (I should patent that one, yeah right;-)

It's what the world's been waiting for...

2004-12-05T11:17:00.000-08:00

Wrapped around your Oregonian comics this morning, in case you had ANY appetite before ... a full-color, life-sized version of the latest breakthrough innovation from Carl's Jr. - you know, the ones with that witty "Don't bother me, I'm eating" ad campaign.

I'll admit it, when I haven't had breakfast OR lunch, I've been known to enjoy a Palmer's Cafe burger that actually has ham, egg and cheese on it - what do they call that, the Lumberjack Burger or somethin'?

But this one takes the cake - to me, it even tops the new XXL Pizza Hut monster or the "Why eat one pizza when you can have a double-decker with cheese between the crusts" carotid-artery special from Domino's.

It's ... the Pastrami Burger. But the fine print says it's only available for a limited time. So hurry! (Hey, add sauerkraut and it can be a Reuben Burger! And then make the bun out of rye bread and ... muwahahahahahah!);-)

'National Treasure,' indeed

2004-12-04T22:31:00.000-08:00

The missus and I just came from one of our favorite flicks of a year in which we've seen a whole lot more than normal: "National Treasure."

I'll skip the plot details and just say if you like a good yarn, a good mystery, a fun movie for the whole family (no swear words! Two kisses! Very little violence!) check it out.

And online, I found in the oddest of ways - by Googling the movie title and 'Masons' (see it, you'll see why), something new called a SmartTrailer - sort of like getting to see all the DVD extras way before the DVD comes out. It's at: http://www.compleatseanbean.com/nt-enhanced.html (you'll probably need broadband, which I'm not sure I could live without;-)

Best thing I can say about the latest Nicolas Cage/Jerry Bruckheimer teamwork is: You don't know exactly what's coming next. (At least, I didn't.) A clever mix of fact and fantasy and history and Indiana Jones? That is a "national treasure."

The highest compliment

2004-11-23T22:34:00.000-08:00

Twice today, people in the midst of controversy around here - one public-sector, the other private-sector - complained to me about the daily paper's treatment of them, and paid me a compliment I don't take the time to appreciate nearly often enough.

They called me fair. And while fishing for compliments is a hazardous sport, with little chance of success, I (perhaps naively) don't believe they were simply sucking up. Too many times, I've heard how people in high-visibility positions simply pray that the media doesn't foul up the basic message they are trying to get across, much less agree with them on the editorial pages. And so many times, the press comes up short in the basics of accuracy and fairness.

As a reporter for a local Website for the past five years, I've been very blessed to have a boss who doesn't tell me what to write, or how to write it. I have no idea how many times he's bitten his tongue to keep from doing just that, but I've tried to make clear how much I appreciate his trust in my news judgment.

I can mess up, like any other human. (Oh boy, can I.) But when I tell folks "I don't play gotcha journalism," I mean it. I drool over a juicy story as much as the next reporter, but I don't believe, as some editors obviously do, that if you don't make the people you cover mad at you, you must be too cozy with them and not doing your job. That if the folks you write about like your stories - especially if they are in government - you must be doing something wrong.

Telling both sides of a story seems to be out of favor any more, as journalism magazines question the very worthiness of objectivity. I've engaged in my share of newslist fistfights with those who believe that reporters shouldn't give both sides equal weight if one side is "obviously wrong." Get real. We don't wear robes, and we're not on a jury. We fail in our mission if we pretend that we can sort out the crooks from the heroes, and I firmly believe most readers are smart enough to see right through one-sided "position journalism." They know when they are being spun.

Trouble is, if you believe what you read these days, a lot of folks are rather enjoying "preaching to the choir" news sources that do what the right-wing talk show hosts do: Tell you that you're right and the other side is wrong, that just about everything is black and white, and that one day, when your side prevails, Utopia will exist. Very scary.

The beauty, value and worth of objective news reporting is that you get to hear the other points of view, the other side or thought you hadn't considered. That it becomes less easy to live in your cozy world view of preconceived notions. That you realize that the problem you thought would be so easily solved if only everyone believed as you do ... isn't that simple at all. And maybe, just maybe, we all nudge a bit toward the middle, toward common ground, toward that far-too-maligned notion of compromise.

A friend who's a state senator points out that even the most black-and-white of issues have grays to them. Darn straight. If we buy simple answers, we'll be disappointed with the results every single time, IMHO.

Maybe I'm an old-fashioned dinosaur. Maybe "position journalism" isn't just an editorial or column masquerading as a fair, balanced story. Maybe a story without "spin" is too boring to be read by far too many folks. But I still believe it's the right way to go, and that the idea of all media proclaiming their political (or other) ideologies is downright chilling.

Eating Larry Hagman (or JR takes the cake)

2004-11-14T22:22:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, the edge is the best part of The Oregonian (and if it's posted at Oregon Live, I haven't a clue where;-)

Take, for example, these two tidbits:

Larry Hagman has stipulated that upon his death, he wants his body to be ground in a wood chipper and scattered in a field, where wheat is to be harvested for a cake to be eaten by his friends and family one year later. (This from USA Today, no less).

Now does that sound like a paaartaaaay or what?;-)

Followed by the tale of "a Turkish gas station attendant who lost his cell phone dialed the number and was surprised to hear it ringing from his dog's stomach."

The headline was just right: "Can you hear me NOW?" (Beats "This Too Shall Pass";-)

Nothing brings a smile...

2004-11-04T09:51:00.000-08:00

like word of an imminent release of a new album from one of my Top 5 favorite artists of all time, Elton John. "Peachtree Road" is the name, and after listening to 30-second clips of each song, I know it's another great one. I feared "Songs From the West Coast" was so bitter about music in the lyrics, etc., that he might pack it in, but this one sounds superb.

OrBlogs testing 1-2-3;-)

2004-11-03T15:17:00.000-08:00

I think I just added the code that gets me seen at OrBlogs, a fast-growing repository of Oregon blogs. (In fact, this blog and my other, Please Release Me already are listed there!) Now I just gotta think of some important things to say;-)

Healing nation? (Or more screams at extremes?)

2004-11-03T13:40:00.000-08:00

How long will it be before we see a set of lawn signs/bumper stickers that say "Don't blame me, I voted for Kerry!" and "Wake Me in '08" (and/0r Hillary '08")?

Mr. Kerry and Mr. Bush said the right things today. We'll see how that translates into action (or inaction) in the next four years, and whether the country can heal or we need a move toward the center through such things as the "Radical Middle."

We really need to find a way to move away from the screams at the extremes. I was just listening to an old friend and philosophical foe, Lars Larson, on the radio, so mad he was shaking (I could tell) about punks who threatened him and his wife, posted his home address on the Net, forced him to move, etc.

Ideas/views I disagree with me don't scare me. That kind of punk behavior surely does. Our own homegrown terrorists deserve nothing better than the ones overseas. If you say someone who speaks his mind on the radio "deserves it," you're part of the problem, and you scare me, too.

Plumb out!

2004-10-31T19:31:00.000-08:00

Gee, there must be lots more kids in our neighborhood (Foxborough). We did the "2 pieces per" out of what we thought was a big bowl, and ran out by, oh, 6:15! So it's turn off the lights, shut the blinds and ... sorrreeeee;-/

A "community" news service - by the community?

2004-10-31T16:04:00.000-08:00

Well, if this isn't a potential antidote to the blog as navel-gazing "Me Magazine" diary writing, I don't know what is.

Ever heard of Wikipedia? The open-source encyclopedia that anyone can add to, edit, etc.? Risky biz, for sure - but quite the wondrous site to check out.

Now, there's a movement afoot, to do something similar with the news. Wikinews is already creating quite a debate, even controversy about its potential use (or abuse), value and worthiness.

I sure like the idea, myself. I've offered to help, maybe with that unsung but most important of jobs - proofreading. (Seeing as how I'm always better at catching others' typos than my own;-)

But in reading Dan Gillmor's "We The Media," I'm reminded of the notion that journalists have too high an opinion of themselves - that yes, we have special training and unique experience, but the whole idea of the Web and the Net is that everyone has a voice - and gets to use it.

Will this work? I have no idea. But it'll be fun to help - a collaborative process, far from the insularity of blogging and looking for folks to stop by. This will be a major thoroughfare, with all the pluses/minuses that entails. If folks behave themselves and work (and play) to their better instincts, it'll sure beat the Sims Online or Chat Room 1,034 as a place to see things happen, and make things happen.

Or not;-)

Oh, and by the way - objectivity in the news is taking a beating from some quarters who claim it's not fair to give the "wrong" side/"questionable" points of view equal time.

Poppycock. NPOV is my favorite new acronym - stands for Neutral Point of View. It's explained wonderfully here at Wikipedia. I'll have to go back and read it slowly, because it makes the kind of points I've been trying to make in much more reasoned, in-depth fashion.

Songs

2004-10-23T21:31:00.000-07:00

Riff off a stand-up routine I saw many moons ago - okay, sing along!:

"Seventy-six trombones led the big parade ... there was nobody else!"

"Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket ... AAAAIIIEEEEE!"

"Imagine me and you ... I don't."

"Every time it rains, it rains - that much is certain." (Borrowed from Brother Rick;-)

"I just called to say I lo - (click)"

Okay, not as funny as a good episode of "Scrubs" (never saw a bad one). But hopefully at least a smile;-)

Google does it right (again)

2004-10-15T22:50:00.000-07:00

As a guy named Barney who knows the song "Barney Google," but doesn't exactly have "goo-goo-googly eyes" (as far as I know), I've always had a soft spot for the Kings and Queens of Search.

So I downloaded the Google Desktop Search with more excitement than trepidation, figuring they'd do it right, as they have everything else (okay, I wish Blogger had more oomph, but it sure works nice and is simple).

And they did. It didn't take long at all to index ALL of my .doc and .txt files, Outlook e-mail, Web sites, etc. And I used it within a couple of hours to find a piece of notes from several months ago, and it came up lightning quick.

Bravo. In fact, said so on Jeff Jarvis' Buzz Machine site (a favorite blog, BTW), and someone responded: "I'm with Barney, this thing is amazingly fast. Makes the XP search look like a horse & buggy. And it'll find whatever you've got. Hell, I've got porn I'd completely forgotten about."

Hmmmm.... time for another search;-)

Ow, that hurt

2004-10-15T20:43:00.000-07:00

Some doofus (trying to be kind) who was camped out by the railroad tracks next to the Bend Parkway (nice, quiet spot - yeah right) caused a lot of people a lot of grief today.

He fell asleep with a lantern burning, and knocked it over, and started a fire, and tried to put it out, but he couldn't, so he called 911, and the fire got bad enough it burned some wires overhead - but not just any wires, but the freakin' BendBroadband fiber-optic wires, the ones made of glass, thin as a hair, that carry light (and a whole lot of data), and melt. And which it takes some specialized wiring to fix.

Soooo ... though BendBroadband says it only affected about 5,700 subscribers, I have a feeling a lot more of their almost-30,000 customers felt the pain, for several hours (here's my story about the mess). And most folks really don't have a backup for this stuff - it's cable-modem or nothin. (DSL customers today could chuckle and feel sorry, I suppose.)

It sure throws off the rhythm -- I didn't get to two things I wanted to cover today, and it took quite a while to catch up on e-mail, etc. I've already heard the city manager on the radio, saying he wants to make sure (the city also uses the cable system for Net-based phones!) they have redundancy, like Qwest created for its phone lines after several really dumb, really widespread outages.

But what's a home user (or home-office) user to do? We haven't had a "real modem" for a long, long time, and to have both DSL and the cable modem is ... well, ridiculous (and priced like that, too;-) BendBroadband does have a great service and a great up-time percentage, but when one has one's digital eggs all in one's basket, one would like that basket to be made of titanium alloy. (Though who could lift, or afford, that?;-)

Moderate in wilderness says: 'Eureka! I found it!'

2004-10-10T19:42:00.000-07:00

In a way, I feel like a fool - or at the least, like a less-than-professional Google-searcher.

A few months back, I wrote something that was more of a St. Helens-style venting of steam (and ash) than it was a reasoned piece of political discourse. I called it "A Moderate's Manifesto," and it kvetched about how sick I was (and I'm sure by this point in the election season, many of you are) of the extremist screaming that passes for political debate these days.

Before writing it, I went Googlin' with some search terms that related to "moderates" or "moderate politics" and couldn't come up with stuff better than out of Sweden, for goodness sake. Still, my pal Jake at UtterlyBoring.com was kind enough to post it, and it apparently drew some interest from here and there.

Then, this past weekend, I finally got out of Bend for more than 48 hours - the first time in more than a year. And while my darlin' wife got to attend her Women of Faith convention, I got to spend a couple semi-rainy days at Powell's Bookstore, the Western Hemisphere's reading hangout, where I picked up a fun lil mag, Utne Reader, that I peruse on occasion.

And that's where I found it: the article about the movement that I just knew HAD to be out there, but couldn't put my digital finger on. In this case, it's called the Radical Middle, and while it may be a bit more Radical and a bit less Middle than to my immediate liking, I soon had grabbed the only copy (left) of the book by the same name, which led me to the Website, which in turn has led to such interesting groups (and sites) as the Centrist Coalition.

I personally feel that Radical Middle author Mark Satin has, while putting his fingers on the pulse of something, may have gone too far for many who would just like rational, reasonable debate over issues and some out-of-the-box thinking without throwing away the box. The idea of a combined draft-or-community service requirement for all young Americans of a certain age has its pluses, but I'm not sure how the idea of federalizing ALL public education funding would go over.

To me, it's far more important that there's places out there where people are trying to get beyond the ideas of "opponent as Devil Incarnate" (Rush Limbaugh buys into that on one extreme, Al Franken and most Bush-haters on the other) and look not for "Kumbaya"-singing waffle-fests, but real answers to tough issues that deserve more than rhetoric and finger-pointing. Once you get into the specifics, people might peel off -- but setting up the structure for dialogue beyond the screeds of the Major Party Machines is the crucial part, to my way of thinking.

Nevertheless, I think I've finally found the Mother Lode, when it comes to us folks who think Middle of the Road is where most of us are, and that it doesn't mean you get hit from both directions - as long as there's a well-designed median from which to decide on directional travel. Some from the extremes at both ends of the polar spectrum might call that wishy-washy waffling, but I daresay a majority of Americans would call it a New Reality worth embracing and exploring.

I know I plan to!

Here I am!

2004-10-04T23:31:00.000-07:00

There ARE eyes behind the glasses;-)
I wanted to put this over in that profile box, but my my, has Blogger made that ... not as easy as other stuff? BloggerBot seems a bit ... um, constraining. Oh well, it'll change - everything online does!;-)

Spyware ad nauseum unproductus

2004-10-04T22:48:00.000-07:00

Lordy, have they got us coming and going or what?

The nasty spyware that infests and infects. Then you have to pay for programs like Ad-Aware, Spybot and the new King Killer, Spy Bouncer to get rid of ones that even the Big Boys haven't gotten around to. (Thanks to Brother Pete for finding that apparently quite effective lil proggie;-)

So they help you find dozens, even hundreds of baddies hiding in your files and registry. But then, if ya wanna remove the darn things, ya have to pay up. And we do, we do - because the pop-ups are at the least maddening, and sometimes far worse.

So is it, as a UPI friend posted today, like paying the Mafia "protection"? Are they in cahoots? I don't want to believe it, but ... sigh.

Hummer Bummer (or, Sorry, Jake...)

2004-10-04T17:16:00.000-07:00

But the hundreds of times I send you things a month for your great blog start feeling like someone poking you in the ribs until you wanna bop them on the head.

So why not just do it myself? Why shouldn't I just tell the world (yeah right) when I, for example, open a Bon-Macy's mailing (they must come 2x a week!) and one of the infernal perfume deals that falls out is:

"Hummer: The Essence of Adventure. A New Fragrance for Men"/

Smells like plain ol' cologne to me. But the bottle is shaped like one of them cars;-)

So go ahead, call me a meany, Indian giver. But I wanna kick Bloggers' tires all by myself;-)

Hello there! (And visit over here!)

2004-09-25T13:15:00.000-07:00

Here's the first post I made on this blog, before I found that Squarespace would be a better place to do my Website all about press releases. (That's because I saw right off that Blogger, at present, doesn't even let you do sub pages, from anything I could find.)

So come visit my "professional" site (well, the one other than Bend.com, my real day job;-)

---
Greetings and solutions! (Well, I hope solutions, anyway;-)

Please allow me to introduce myself. I'm Barney Lerten, a 25-year "professional" journalist (and long before that in amateur-land). I live in Bend, Oregon, a booming High Desert town of, oh, 60,000 or so, with my darlin' wife Deb and two kittycats.

I work for a great Website, where I write a LOT of local news. But as the only reporter, we also do something pretty unique, to cover more ground than one person could ever hope to cover. We post press releases (the ones we get electronically, anyway). ALL press releases we get via e-mail, of local import. (Thank goodness for the world of cut-paste!)

I've been doing this for close to five years now, and so, while I'd seen tons of press releases over the decades, I've personally handled and edited MANY more in the past five years. And I've learned a LOT about what folks out there are doing right - and wrong - with press releases.

Not everyone gets into the public relations field, but FAR more folks than just the PR professionals find a need to do regular or occasional press releases - and they've often asked me, "How?"

In the past, I pointed them to what now stands as a vast archive of the good, bad (and yep, the ugly) of press releases on our Website, and basically said, "pick a style you like and copy it."

But there's got to more to it than that. And there is! So I figure, why not share what I've learned and help myself in the process. Yes, this Website will be a chance for me to help you, and myself at the same time. Or as Jerry McGuire pleaded, "Help me help you!"

I've said many times that there are thousands of ways to write a news article right, and thousands of ways to write it wrong. The same goes for press releases. I'm not about to claim there's one "correct" way to write all of them - in fact, my plan is to create sections on this site that talk about the various categories of press releases, and tips and techniques for each.

Yep, thousands of ways to write them right, and wrong - the trick is to be on the right side of the line - not formulaic or A-B-C, just ... an inviting release that gets the message across to whom you want, in timely fashion. So, this is a chance to start assembling tips, saluting the really good

There are some experts out there who claim press releases are awful, that they take a one-size-fits-all approach and try to curry the favor of editors, when in the world of the Internet you can talk directly to the people you're trying to reach.

True, up to a point. But really, the Net has made it possible for everyone to be a writer, and the idea that press releases are going away is like saying the computer created the "paperless office" Ha! Anything but. It's buried us in information, a lot of it on paper.

So yes, the tips and techniques will be focused on what to say in your releases, as well as what not to say, what not to leave out, what formating to use (MS Word) and not (Publisher???), grammar and style and all of that - much of which comes into play no matter what medium you use, paper or e-mail.

So let's get started! And I look forward to hearing from you about what areas you'd like covered. As a reporter, I never claim to have "all the answers." I just try to have the right questions. The answers then follow.

Welcome!!