So, the Rocky Mountain chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences had its annual parties to announce nominations for this year's Emmy Awards. Because I no longer live in the area, I wasn't able to attend; however, one of my friends kept a lookout for my name.

I am now a nominee for a 2010 Rocky Mountain Emmy Award in investigative reporting. I'm honored to be nominated as part of the team -- Morgan, Z and David -- that produced and reported the issues surrounding Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Labels: rocky mountain emmy

I think almost everyone can agree that pageviews are important for any news site. The more pageviews you have, the more of a splash you're making -- and the more you can charge for advertising.

Nevertheless, for local sites, some pageviews are better than others.

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Labels: pageviews, ramblings, the cake analogy, tips

For my journalism capstone course, my group and I produced a website about the subprime meltdown with an emphasis on Rockbridge County, Va. I created the website, copy-edited the articles, put together the images, took photographs and put on the finishing touches. I'm most proud, however, of a slideshow and an infographic I put together:

• Slideshow: The Path to Eviction
• Infographic: Dominos on Wall Street

Labels: in-depth, looking back, multimedia

...are just two of the tags I use over at my Tumblr blog to categorize links I find noteworthy. That part of the site has become a repository of "interesting stuff" for me, and I encourage you to check it out. Plus, it helps me keep a handle on the number of bookmarked stories I have, and it keeps me from spamming all my Twitter followers with links. :)

Should I follow your blog on Tumblr? Let me know!

Labels: cool stuff, psa, social media, tumblr

Since I started this blog, I've been meaning to design my own layout for it, and my unplanned and unexpected break has given me some extra time to do so. I should be done within a day or two; in the meantime, please bear with any display craziness.

All done! In my opinion, ice cream is one of the best parts of summer (and, really, the rest of the year). Enjoy this sweet bite.

Labels: layout, psa

During tonight's #journchat discussion on Twitter, one person asked how other participants handle burnout and stress, and it got me thinking.

In my two years in Phoenix, stress hit me far too often, and I didn't always have a way to cope. The following methods helped sometimes:

• Taking a walk
• Watching episodes of old TV shows on Hulu
• Chatting with friends on IM or the telephone
• Talking with family
• Playing Sudoku
• Crocheting blankets

They helped, but they were like sticking a bandaid on a wound that needed stitches when it came to relieving major stress. Ironically, I figured out what I needed shortly before I was let go from the job that was causing me so much stress.

When I was young, I rode horses competitively, and I tried to continue to at least work with horses throughout college. After graduation, however, I moved to Arizona and stopped riding.

I started working with horses again at the beginning of spring, and throughout my last few weeks at the station, I was more relaxed than I had ever been. I had found my "third place" (away from work and home); I was exercising more; it was simply a matter of finding something I loved.

Even now that I no longer have a job, I've continued to visit the horses; they're keeping me sane through my stressful move.

Riding has filled an empty space in my life, and I hope to keep spending time with horses, no matter where I end up.

Labels: burnout, hobbies, horses, stress

I've noticed that many news sites seem to be in the aggregation business, and actually, with Yahoo! Pipes, it's not too difficult to create your own.

Here's an example:


In this post, I'll explain how to use Yahoo! Pipes to create a simple aggregator that cites the source of each headline in brackets.

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Labels: free, tips, tutorial, yahoo pipes