My Internet has been down so I've had limited access to this blog. My apologies. So what has TARB been up to?
I interviewed a guy who invented a magic puzzle. It took him years to get it up and running, but he's sold 700,000 of them worldwide. I had a three hour interview and learned WAAAAAY more than I even wanted to about this guy. Like he named one of his daughters Tuesday Wednesday and that two years in advance of 9/11 he dreamed about it and told everyone he knew to stay clear of New York. It was one of the weirder conversations that I've had in my life.
I interviewed a girl who will be a famous country music star. I heard her CD that they sent to Nashville and it gave me chills. When I met her in person we hit it off right away. She has one of those stories that will make the Greater Journalists drool, too. When she was five, she was in car accident. She broke a vertbrae in her lower back, but it went undiagnosed for 9 years. She has an incredible voice, a great personality and poise. I had one of those moments with her. When she is rich and famous, I be able to say, "I remember when . . ." and my remember when is a good one. Her mother wanted her to sing for me, but she was so embarassed. It was blistering hot in the parking lot in front of the diner. She was so embarassed, she climbed into her moms truck and rolled the window all the way up so only her eyes were visible. We laughed so hard. Good kid.
I wrote a thank you letter to the editor for a woman who is dying. She wanted me to do a story and kept bothering every reporter in the office. No one wanted to deal with her, so I took her on. She'd leave these messages: "Hey. Are you going to do a story on me before I die?" Ummmmm. Finally I just told her that we needed to do this as a letter to the editor. She agreed and told me everything. I wrote it out and submitted it. Kinda weird to do it that way, but she got what she wanted and I got her off my back - you know before she dies and I spend the rest of my life feeling guilty.
Well, my job changed, too. One of the reporters on our team quit to go back to school to be a teacher. Instead of working for two papers as the education reporter, I'll be working for one paper on the education beat and covering the city. It kinda sucks, but when the industry sucks as bad as it does, well, you gotta do what ya gotta do.
With Internet up and running again, I'm back at the blog. I hope all is well with all of you.
TARB
