Rain

I absolutely love it when it rains. I'm sitting here with Snow Patrol coming out of the iTunes and my office door open to hear the heavy rain and thunder.

I like writing on days like this.

Wil Wheaton on ST:TNG

TV Squad is publishing reviews of Star Trek: The Next Generation by series actor Wil Wheaton. He played the much-hated, Wesley Crusher.

What's really great about this is seeing the thoughts of someone who was involved in the making of the series. He doesn't pull any punches either. The reviews are especially fun to read when they are bad episodes. Luckily, they are starting with season one which was pretty much bad with a few moments of goodness sprinkled here and there.

You can read his latest review here, and keep up with his blog here.

His book, Just a Geek, is an incredible look at a rising star, that didn't keep rising so much as it just faded from Hollywood's radar. I'd recommend the audiobook version. It's worth every bit of the purchase price.

Man, I need an editor

After looking back on a few posts, I've found I make one or two mistakes in each post. Usually simple stuff that I don't notice as I'm writing. It's too bad Blogger's spell check feature never seems to work.

I've gotta start working on that.

43 vs. 57

I noticed this morning that I was coming up on post number 100 (which this is) and thought I'd look at the totals. In all of last year I wrote 57 entries. In January of this year, I've written 43 so far. I'm actually proud of myself for keeping up with my writing like I want to.

Start the presses

Have you ever noticed that when you're very tired, writing is a hard thing to do?

We just sent the initial layout of the Business Journal February issue off to the printer. This process involves 2 to 3 days of very intense design work. It always wipes me out. Just one final proofing meeting and about two hours worth of changes and we’ll be completely done with this issue.

A big part of the issue (and what made this one difficult) was a story we decided on last Friday. Normally we assign stories 30-60 days in advance. Starting one less than a week from going to press is never easy, but this one turned out great.

Lainey Emoto and I spent about two hours Monday with a rodeo legend named Harry Tompkins. Mr. Tompkins lives just outside Dublin, and was probably one of the greatest interviews I’ve been involved in. We went in expecting to write a short sidebar and get a few pictures. We walked out with enough great material for a full story and then some. The photos turned out great as well. Mr. Tompkins and his wife Melba where very kind to open there home to us and give us so much time. The issue with the story should be out by next Friday. I've got another future project in mind involving Mr. Tompkins if I can ever find the time.

One odd problem we had this issue was an over abundance of material. From stories to art, we had more than we needed, which is very weird considering several stories dropped at the last minute. Because of this wealth of material, my blogging article was pushed back to next issue. I guess you’ll have to wait to find out why I do this every day.

I’m off to get a little much-needed rest before starting again bright and early tomorrow. Just two more days and we have an entire weekend of relaxation planned. I don’t even have to teach Sunday so we get a break there too.

Wow, turns out writing isn’t that hard when you're tired. The key is to just start rambling.

Blogging? What's that?

FYI, I'll be writing a general overview of blogging (who, what, when, where, why) along with a few tips for the February issue of The Business Journal. Should be out the first or second week of February.