myspace fatigue

I'm getting tired of myspace.com and I'm heavily leaning towards deleting my profile very soon.

I just don't see the point. Myspace was new and exciting when it was...well...new and exciting. But we all know the great feeling of a new toy/experience/town/etc. wears off eventually. That's how I feel about myspace.

I did find old friends out there in the world. But after the excitement of reconnecting I was left to wonder, "now what?" The only thing we have in common now is the fact that we knew each other at one point in our lives. It's good to see how you are and what you're up to but...there's just not much to share anymore.

My problem is that I've never been very good at keeping in touch. Ever since I joined myspace I now have a constant reminder of all the people I'm not keeping in touch with. I don't leave comments on other people's pages because I want to. I do it because I feel like I'm supposed to. It's nerve-wracking. There's too much pressure. And don't get me started on updating my own page. I see everyone else out there doing it and I'm filled with anxiety over how my page has been the same for (GASP!) months! You'd think I could just be happy with things and not worry about living up to the expectations of others. But I can't. Not when I see how much work others are putting into their own pages. I'd rather just call it quits.

A dumb little webpage should not be causing me this much stress. But it is. So while I haven't made a final decision on what's going to happen to my myspace page, I'm pretty sure it will go the way of the dodo.

National Holiweek

Disclaimer: I'm stealing a bit from hjustin. I saw his blog which reminded of a long held thought of my own about "Dead Week."

We have plenty of holidays. Can't we have at least one holiweek. A full, solid week to wind down, regroup and get ready for new horizons. There is no better time than the week between Christmas and New Year's.

Plenty of people have already found ways to turn the last week of the year into one mega-holiday. Let's just make it official and give everyone else the right to take a week off from work. Consider it a reward for making through yet another year. I'd start the holiday on December 24. We wouldn't have to go back to work until January 2nd. That's a full 9 days off. Drastic, I know...but just think how great it would be. We're all pretty much in limbo anyway after Christmas. We're just waiting for the year to end. I would even venture to say the days between Christmas and New Year's aren't "real" days. They're wasted. There's no point in going back to "real life" on "wasted days."

Who's with me?

Merry Christmas

As another Christmas winds to a close, I thought I'd leave you all with this little gem of a picture.
Priceless. Just priceless.

Season's Greetings everyone!

Thoughts on Being Home

I love The Gateway. I know there's been controversy surrounding the area ever since the plans were first announced. I know downtown Salt Lake City is dying and The Gateway probably doesn't help matters. Even I was a little pissed at The Salt Lake Tribune when they touted the importance of going "downtown"...and then moved their offices to The Gateway. I know it all and yet...I still love The Gateway. I'm not even sure why. I don't even shop that much. I just like the atmosphere down there. And it's nice to see an outdoor mall bustling in the winter time. I realize Christmas has a lot to do with it but I remember being at The Gateway in the wintertime when it first opened. There was NO ONE there. I thought, "How the hell is this place supposed to thrive in the winter? I think they made a huge mistake." I guess they knew what they were doing.

I DON'T miss these stupid Salt Lake inversions. I'd really like to see the mountains when I come home for a visit. Just once please...before I leave on Tuesday.

Long time no blog

Hello everyone. I took a little 10 day break from blogging. Not by choice mind you. It's been a hectic couple of weeks. News in a small town is never consistent. For the most part...nothing happens. But when it rains....it pours. Lots of local news over the past couple weeks. That's bad because it's been busy. It's good because that's why I love my job. But that's all behind me. I drove home to Salt Lake last night and that's where I'll be for the Christmas holiday. I have no plans other than to relax. That's all for now. Later.

Blue Planet

I rented 4 movies this past weekend. Thank You For Smoking was excellent. The Da Vinci Code was okay. Pulse sucked. But Deep Blue was...awesome.

It's a documentary about the sea and the creatures that live in, near, and in some cases on, the world's oceans. As someone who can easily become entranced by any type of nature documentary on various cable channels, this was a special treat. I recommend it to anyone.

I think I have a second calling to work with animals in some way.

A Fighting Spirit

I've been a news anchor in Bozeman for just over a year now. In honor of that milestone I had my 1-year employee evaluation yesterday. Here's a taste of how my boss views me:

I have a fighting spirit
I like to challenge authority and policies
I go over people's heads (like my boss's)
I don't follow protocol
I use my "leadership position" in a negative way

From what I've written it would appear I was berated during the hour-long meeting. But I wasn't. There were many positive accolades thrown my way as well...mostly dealing with my job performance as a working journalist and anchor.

The gyst was this: I'm excellent at my job. But when it comes to things I don't like (policies, rules, etc.) I deal with them in the wrong way.

Whether I deal with those things in the "wrong way" is up for debate. I think it's a matter of opinion. Yes, I've done some stupid things...(name calling comes to mind)...but in most cases it was in the heat of the moment and I later realized I should have kept my cool. But I don't think my "fighting spirit" or "questioning attitude" is a bad thing. If I'm told of a new rule or policy I don't agree with, I'm going to stand up and tell you why I don't like it. If you don't do anything about it, I will go over your head to the next person in line and express my frustrations. I'm not an idiot. If the boss to end all bosses says, "no, Lincoln" then I'll back down. But until all my options are exhausted my "fighting spirit" will live on. Part of that spirt is "rallying the troops" so to speak. I'll get everyone on my side and go from there. I guess that's where I mis-use my leadership position. Again, I don't think getting people on my side is a bad thing. But I do see where doing that can lead to an "us against them" environment. Things shouldn't be like that.

The moral of the story, for me anyway, is to use my "fighting spirit" in a more productive manner. I'm the type of person to speak up and give my opinion. I'm not going to suppress that. But I do realize I can use it in a better way.

All in all, my evaluation was a positive experience. I was given an enormous amount of praise in the quality of my work. Yet again, I've been validated in my career choice. But in other areas of professional growth, I have a lot to learn. I know that.

No matter what...I'll always get a little pleasure being a pain in management's side. I just need to make sure I'm being a pain for the right reasons.

Grrr...

I'm in a bad mood.

For the last 5 or so years I've considered myself a fairly healthy, active person. I hiked. I snowboarded. I worked out. Hell, I still do all those things.

And yet...I seem to be falling apart.

My teeth are so badly worn down from grinding them that I need thousands of dollars in dental work to fix them.

I was reminded today just how bad my eyesight is when I couldn't find my glasses for a short period of time. (There is nothing more frustrating than LOOKING for something when you can't SEE.)

And let's not forget that I'm in the early stages of a receding hairline. Yup ladies and gentlemen, I'm going bald.

I'm a pretty vain person so I would have no problem paying to fix all this stuff. Oh..but wait. I'm living below the poverty line. I can't afford anything.

I suppose the icing on the cake would be to start getting fat. Maybe I should just forego all physical activity and just let nature take it's course. It's already starting to anyway.