Katie’s Beer

I haven’t taken a vacation from blogging, but I have been kept away by several things:

• Researching and preparing for the upcoming edition of the Lutheran Carnival which I am hosting this weekend;
• Organizing the upcoming Confessional Worldview Seminar being hosted by my church (please sign up if you haven’t already done so - enrollment is quite low for an event of this caliber);
• Remaining a useful employee;
• Keeping a reasonably clean, happy and well-fed household;
• Going to daughter’s tennis matches in far-flung regions of the metropolis;
• Dealing with a painful budget decrease mandated by my dear husband who has pointed out to me that I spend money like it is water (not an entirely unfair description);
• Walking, training, feeding and loving up my 62 pound puppy (help!) I now know where the idea for the Clifford, the Big Red Dog books came from.;
• Finding some time to read, discover and listen to good music and read blogs.

It has been frustrating not to be able to blog from work due to Big Brother Websense. Blogging by email works, but at times, but the result are not very pretty or polished. I miss being able to post a thought here and there during the day. It really helps me to focus on my work. I do read more posts these days, thanks to Rojo. It is still surprising, though, how many bloggers have not made sure they have an RSS feed going.

A nice young woman came to my door last night handing out literature for local Democratic candidates. She was much more well-informed than me. I didn’t even know that Ron Abrams had retired…how embarrassing. So, I promised her that I would read the literature. I reminded myself that I need to get back in to political mode very soon.

I’ll try to add more thoughts tomorrow. It is very easy to get out of the habit of keeping a blog.

Tags: Blog-keeping, dogs, politics, Everyday life by TK
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This is funny beyond words, but then I am a blogger and my kids have been known to make statements like, “You’d better not write about that on your blog, Mom! (exasperated tone implied)” or “You can write that on your blog, Mom. (sweet tone implied)”. One comment is made after they’ve done something not-so-smart and one after something totally wonderful and admirable.

Hat tip to the funny, smart and very pregnant Devona (and Rob) at Love and Blunder!

Tags: Blog-keeping, Humor by TK
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I challenge anyone to deny that this song describes blog-keeping, at least once in a while.

Anna Nalick, Breathe (2am)

Tags: Blog-keeping by TK
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To find out more about Blogging Chicks, visit the main headquarters or check out the new link on my sidebar.

Tags: Blog-keeping by TK
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Through one of my favorite morning radio shows, A Balanced Breakfast with Ian and Margery Punnett, I have learned of another local blogger with a widespread audience. I’ve enjoyed this blog for a while now and it’s time to highlight it. Below are my highlights of FunnyBusiness‘ introductory post:

Welcome to Funny Business – a blog about business culture– in the USA and the Universe!

The focus of this blog is on the story, not who’s telling it, or what company the story is about. I’ll leave that to the investigative reporters. If these stories were attributable and on the record, heads would surely roll, departments would re-org and HR would be working overtime and chances are someone would be dooced.

These are real stories, about real people, who work real jobs, for real organizations. Only the names have been changed to protect people’s employment. If you have a story that you want to share, share with me.

I couldn’t make this stuff up. Not the shenanigans, not the showstopping, not the hidden agendas, and definitely not the policy statements….I do try to be honest. However, I’m not sure if I’m always fair.Can you be fair when you are writing from a point of view.? Can you be fair if you’re telling one person’s perspective of a story? I’m not trying to tell you the whole story here, just a story.

Here’s my promise: I will do the best job I can to be honest, to adhere to the basic principles of blogging ethics. I will include a note at the bottom of all posts when I’ve changed some one’s name, job, location or sex.

Have a story? I want to hear it! The success of this blog depends on people sharing their stories– so whether its a boss, co-worker, corporate policy or just general corporate nonsense, let me hear from you –your identity and the identity of your place of employment will be protected. The goal is to tell the story, not get anyone dooced.

Must reads are:

Shiny Letter Challenge

Advertisers Gone Wild

Daring to Blog Full-Time

The author of FunnyBusiness, Elana Centor, has also ventured into podcasting and videologs. I also learned of the Blogher Conference in California this summer, which she is attending. She also links to the Bloggers’ Code of Ethics. FunnyBusiness is a great blog and a very valuable tool for any blogger.

Tags: Blog-keeping, local blogs by TK
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You know you have spent too much time blogging if:

1. You put all your vitamins on your computer desk so you’ll remember to take them.

2. You don’t get your morning coffee until after you’ve checked your blog.

3. You feel sad and despondent when nobody comments on your blog.

4. You consider vacationing around your favorite blogger(s).

5. You have to stop yourself from talking non-stop about your blog in front of family.

6. You want to sue Blogger when they’re down.

7. You cut errands and activities short so you can rush home and blog about something.

8. You’d consider going to the library to blog if your computer was stolen.

9. You’d forfeit groceries to pay for your internet connection.

10. Your children think blogging is your job.

Thanks to Wisconsin blogger Dean Mundy at Thoughtful Conservative for linking to this funny list. I passed with flying colors! My only point of pause would be on #8; if my computer was stolen and couldn’t be replaced, I’d definitely find SOMEWHERE to keep my blog going. Who wouldn’t? But not the public library, unless there were absolutely no other choices. I mean, that’s where the teenagers and the men who want their protected right to surf porn go, right??? By the way, that reminds me…our church and school now have wireless internet access EVERYWHERE. This is because we use wireless routers for all the school computers. How cool is that? If I only had a laptop now…

Tags: Blog-keeping, Quizzes by TK
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Walt Whitman

LaShawn Barber shares her favorite childhood poem…

O ME! O life!… of the questions of these recurring;
Of the endless trains of the faithless—of cities fill’d with the foolish;
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light—of the objects mean—of the struggle ever renew’d;
Of the poor results of all—of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me;
Of the empty and useless years of the rest—with the rest me intertwined;
The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?

Answer.

That you are here—that life exists, and identity;
That the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse.

~Walt Whitman

I read LaShawn Barber’s posts frequently. Not because she is a well-known Christian or conservative, but because she embodies Luther’s concept of vocation. She seamlessly ties in faith, culture, politics, technology and life. She inspires me to write and make my blog a platform to contribute to the world in the ways God has provided to me. Recently she wrote about her own continuing growth in writing and bloggging, in LBC Retooling,

I have a confession. I am bored out of my skull with the political ranting and raving and nitpicking. I’ve got to take this blog to the next level, mix things up a little bit.

Since November 2003, I’ve basically done the same thing: check the headlines, pick a story, rant and rave about it, link to other bloggers blogging about it, try to get links from other bloggers blogging about it (”chasing the link”), wait for the comments, read the comments, comment on the comments…and start over again the next day.

That’s what most bloggers do, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with it. It’s just not the right format for me anymore. I do some of my best writing on the blog. I put most of my time and energy into it. In fact, I put so much time and energy into it, I don’t have time to do writing outside the blog.

My former boss at the former day job, a liberal, gave me very good advice at a “goodbye and good luck” lunch. Although he leans left, he really liked my writing. He didn’t agree with most of it, but he thought I was a good writer. I told him about my plans to build up the blog, and he advised me to get into the habit of submitting op-eds to print publications once a week. At the time I waved it off. My focus was the blog, the online world. Now I remember why it’s important for a writer-blogger to do non-blog writing.

I need to focus more on filling up this page than joining the next blog swarm or catching the next meme. I want to reach more people with my ideas and opinions, and the best way to do that is to be published in a wider range of print and online pubs. Instead of being one of hundreds of bloggers commenting on MSM stories and op-eds, I want bloggers to comment on my MSM stories and op-eds. Read on…

Thank you, LaShawn!

Tags: Blog-keeping, Vocation by TK
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In her review of Annabelle Gurwitch’s new book for the New York Daily News , Fired, Dawn Eden shares some incredible details of her last days at the New York Post:

“…maybe my own pink-slip experiences have made me overly skeptical of dismissals that are tightly plotted and teem with deadly zingers. Even the firings of mine that came suddenly were, in retrospect, the result of long-simmering differences that finally bubbled to the surface.

Consider my exit from the New York Post. On the day I got the ax as a copy editor, Col Allan, the editor in chief, called me into his office and told me that he was “very concerned” about my blog, where I discuss my beliefs as a Christian conservative. He then lowered the boom (those “fired” synonyms just keep coming). But the first intimation that something was up had come days earlier.

It was then that I got in trouble with my boss, and a Post reporter, by making changes in an article about in-vitro fertilization. I was merely trying to add factual balance. (When three embryos are implanted and two “take,” the third one–it seemed worth mentioning–”dies.”) The newspaper, however, thought that the changes reflected “rabid anti-abortion views,” as a Post gossip column would later put it. When my boss refused to fire me over the incident, the unsatisfied reporter found my blog, printed out certain passages and took them to the top brass.

The word then came down from on high: “When you give an interview, if you talk about being Christian, don’t mention that you work for the New York Post.” I agreed. But I had agreed to the same thing four months before, after I gave an interview to a media-gossip Web site and my comments had stirred concern at the paper. When Mr. Allan finally fired me, then, it wasn’t entirely clear whether the reason was my blog, my beliefs or my editing. But for days I’d had the feeling that something bad was going to happen.”

I haven’t highlighted any particular phrase in her account, but certainly some of it shocked me. Of course, I’m not an intrepid journalist but just a wife, mother and employee who likes to write. In my world, I can’t imagine being fired for my views unless they were just so extreme from the main or I was just downright beligerent that working with me was impossible. Sounds like Ms. Eden has found a good home at the New York Daily News. Has the day finally come where a reporter can have opinions and beliefs and still be given a fair chance as a mainstream journalist? I would think that the Get Religion thinktank run by Dr. Terry Mattingly, whose goal it is to make sure the reporters report stories with religious components accurately, is a good example of this positive trend.

Dawn Eden’s blog can be found at www.dawneden.com. Ms. Eden does a good job of reviewing Ms. Gurwitch’s book, Fired. Isn’t she the girl from that movie show? Yep, it was the show, Dinner and a Movie. Hilarious!

Tags: Blog-keeping, Vocation, Religion, social issues by admin
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It’s so wonderful to see people who keep blogs take things the next logical step and utilize their writing skills in a more public forum. John H., keeper of Confessing Evangelical blog, speaks out on Google’s news service and its plans to scan millions of books. John writes:

John Halton
Monday February 6, 2006
The Guardian

In a blaze of international publicity, the World Association of Newspapers announced last week that it is considering legal action against Google News, which it accuses of “building a new medium on the backs of our industry, without paying for any of the content”. This follows earlier objections to the Google Print service - Google’s plans to scan millions of books have attracted opposition from publishers and authors. But what is its legal position faced with these objections? Read on…

Tags: Blog-keeping, Technology by TK
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What a lady! Michelle Malkin responds to Kathleen Parker and others in their criticism of bloggers:

Syndicated columnist Kathleen Parker’s description of bloggers as “creepy” wired squatters who are “untempered by restraint and accountability” and “insidious enemies of decency, humanity and civility - the angry offspring of narcissism’s quickie marriage to instant gratification.” MSM outlets, by contrast, “are filled with carpal-tunneled wretches, overworked and underpaid, who suffer near-pathological allegiance to getting it right.” You know, those poor, truth-telling, underpaid ink-stained wretches like Jayson Blair, Mitch Albom, Stephen Glass, Eric Slater, Janet Cooke, Barbara Stewart, Patricia Smith, Mike Barnicle, and Jack Kelley.

She makes her comments in the form of 2005 in review. I’ve added her to my daily read roll.

‘2005 IN REVIEW: THE WAR ON BLOGS’ from Michelle Malkin.

Tags: Blog-keeping, mainstream media by admin
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