Summer has arrived!

It's hot here. Like in the 90s every day, and probably will be until I leave. I'm sure it's nothing like Austin, but the heat is a welcome change from the gloom and doom that was early June.

Again, I'm sorry for the lack of updates/showcasing of my work. I keep meaning to ask the appropriate parties about it but always get wrapped up doing this, that or the other thing and then before I know it the editor is gone and it's 10:30 p.m. and we're rushing to finish up the paper. Arg.

I don't like this schedule. I don't have enough time in the morning to really get into anything great. I could go fishing, but in order for it to be worth the time I'd have to get up so early that I'd be too tired to enjoy it. So it goes...

Back in black, I hit the sack...

So I went to Missoula this weekend. Lots of driving, which started at 11:30 Friday night and ended at about 7 Saturday morning. Special thanks to Tonya for letting me sleep it off for a few hours before we headed out for breakfast.

Also, special thanks to Tonya for reminding me of this. It appeared in the Times-News, too, but I couldn't find the article on our site. Turns out it's an international story.

Anyway, I'm still trying to get onto a normal sleep schedule. I'll let you know when that happens.

S

Oh designer, oh designer, where for art thou designer?

They let me do the opinion pages last night. There's a style for everything. It's pretty insane.

Watched Elizabeth after work last night, thoroughly enjoyed it. Clive Owen continues to be a badass, and Cate Blanchet was stunning.

That's really the extent of my day yesterday. My car is fixed, but as always when you get work done on your car, the mechanic always feels the need to remind you of the 19 other things wrong with it. Arg.

More later, I swear. Haven't figured out the PDF issue, but soon I hope.

Sean

Breslin, Cribb have beers again!

TWIN FALLS- Sean Breslin and John Cribb took breaks from their summer internships to enjoy beers together at a sketchy Twin Falls bar. They then left sketchy bar and went to the hotel bar at the Red Lion Inn, which was less sketch and more leisure suit. Breslin did not have time to update his blog today because he has to drop off his car at the repair shop before meeting Cribb for breakfast.
--Staff report

A late one.

Sorry for the late update. The internet was being weird.

So I went on a long walk yesterday, like five miles or so. On about mile three, a guy pulled over in a minivan an asked if I needed a ride. Older gentleman, had Purple Heart plates on his car and a cowboy hat on his head. Looked at me strange when I said I was just out for a walk. I guess walking for recreation's sake wasn't something he ever did.

Last night went better. Spent most of the afternoon designing pages for the Gooding County Leader, a weekly paper that has some sort of relationship with the Times-News, though I'm not sure exactly what sort. I couldn't find a Web site for the paper, otherwise I would have linked it.

I also started playing with Photoshop last night, which seemed to go OK. I'll see if I can post some PDFs of my designed pages up here without running afoul of any copyright issues. Be warned: they look like newspaper pages, I'm not doing anything fancy.

That is all. Take care.

S

A dedication

This post is dedicated to Rachel Cook, Lizz Rauf, Matt Unrau, Letty Hingtgen, Ashley Klein and--of course--Eleena Fikhman. I started on the design desk last night, and wow do I suck at it. You all made it look so easy at the Kaimin. I am truly in awe.

At least the Times-News uses Quark, which I'm slightly familiar with. It's not so much the program that I'm getting thrown off with, it's remembering all the folders where all the files are saved. That and I still have no idea what's good design and what's bad design. I just pray that everything fits.

So because I'm not on the city desk anymore, there's not going to be a whole lot of stories being posted here. Sad, I think. But I get my mornings off, which is pretty awesome because that gives me time to screw around in Twin Falls when stuff is actually open. Woo-hoo!

I went on a long walk this morning, like six miles. I needed it. It was cold and windy, but sunny and the light on the canyon was incredible. I should've brought my camera.

Well, that's all for now. I've gotta schedule my car to get some work done. I don't think the suspension can take one more fishing trip down a dirt road. Boo to that.

Take care.
S

Monday mornings...

As promised, a morning story update.

A hospital in Jerome, Idaho, got a new CT Scanner. Those things are expensive.


Been working on a story about the Idaho Meth Project (hint: it's a lot like Montana's), and here it is!

And finally, a story on the local authorities getting software/hardware to give out E-Citations. They're writing out E-Citations. It's giving us excitations. (That was my editor's joke, not mine.)

That's all for now. Got to go study for a quiz. And by study, I mean cram. A lot.

Sean

Well, there's good news, and there's bad news...

The good news is my camera isn't broken, and I've got some pictures from my Boise-tastic Saturday. The bad news is my camera got dunked into Silver Creek on a Sunday fishing trip before I got to the caves, so that adventure has been postponed.

OK, Boise. I got into town at around 11, and was immediately struck by the fact that lil ol' Boise, Idaho, could figure how to do this:



And somehow avoid this. I dunno, just interesting.

Anyway, Boise is probably the biggest city I've been in all year. Well, that's not entirely true. I was in Atlanta for about one day this year, but still, at 211,000 people it's twice as big as Billings, Montana's largest city. Despite its large size, Boise's farmers' market still managed to have a pretty close-knit community feel:



After walking around the market for a while, I got pretty hungry, so I started scanning local eateries, I passed up a brewery (wow) and a Basque wine bar for something I haven't had in a while:



Note the flower-shaped dollops of wasabi!

I walked around for a while, when I came upon a couple noteworthy things...

1) Now that everyone's got cell phones, there's really no use for phone booths, right? "Wrong!" say the good people of Boise:



Two: I've found the perfect place for myself (and several of my friends):



The glare might throw you off, but you're reading that correctly. It's a bar. And it's called "Lush." Though I'm a little skeptical of the joint. I walked by at about 1 p.m., and it was still closed. Seriously, a bar called "Lush" shouldn't open any later than 10 a.m.

OK, that's about all for now. Haven't checked the paper's site for stories, I'll do a story update tomorrow, I swear. Hope all is well, miss you all.

S

One more time this week...

Hey all. So last night I covered a meeting on drug addiction in Idaho.

And Missoula might be getting the Hell's Angels, but Twin Falls is having a different sort of biker rally this weekend...

I also wrote a few briefs, but I don't think they'll be in the paper until this weekend. But I could be wrong.

I think I'm going to take a road trip to Boise this weekend. Also might check out some caves a little bit north of town. I promise there will be pictures, provided I can get my computer to let me upload them.

Other than that, life is good. Watching over the dogs, who remain fun and generally interesting companions. They don't complain when I play guitar too loudly. I don't ask for much in roommates.

Sean

Contamination sweeping the nation!

That was my suggested headline for this story. Apparently they thought of something better...

Watched some TV and went to bed. I lead such a rock star life out here.

Another difference between Twin Falls and Missoula: The Pita Pit here is only open until 10. I mean, I stopped by at around 6:30, but I asked about their hours and they said that's when they shut it down. How're sots supposed to get their post-bar pita fix???

Of course, the Pita Pit here is on Blue Lakes, which would be like having one on Reserve in Missoula, so I guess it's not that much of an issue.

More later. Hopefully fun. We shall see...

S

Today's story update

Hi all. Wrote a story on Habitat for Humanity and everything they're doing in the area. That's all for today, got a couple irons in the fire trying to track some stuff down for some more in-depth pieces.

I took Brad and Jodi, my Twin Falls innkeepers, to dinner last night, sort of a 'thank you' for putting me up/putting up with me. We went to this restaurant in Kimberly called "El Cazador" which is way better than restaurant of same name in Missoula. Difference #1: Full liquor license. We had a good time, talked about news and music and the like. Then home to watch Obama's quasi-victory speech. I haven't read this morning's news, so I don't know what's happened most recently. I'm excited!

That's all for now.

S

It's finally here!

That's right, it's PRIMARY DAY in Montana! Woo-hoo! What's more, it's the last primary in this horrific campaign. I say if the Democratic Party doesn't have a nominee by Wednesday morning, they clear the chairs and desks out of the Senate chamber and toss in Barack and Hillary. Give each of them a sword and a shield, maybe toss in a few tigers, and just let them duke it out Gladiator-style.

A quick word on the primaries, now that we're at the end of them. Hillary Clinton has some pretty legitimate complaints about the way some people have been treating her candidacy. That said, a lot of well-respected party members have been urging her to drop out for some time, and she claims she has no idea why.

Here's why: Democrats wanted a nominee quickly, they wanted to get the general election started as soon as possible. That's why Super Tuesday had some obscene number of states voting: to get this thing settled ASAP. Had Obama been a hundred delegates behind and kept pushing on, party leaders would have asked him to give it up, too.

Of course, the Democratic Party had a fatal flaw in their plan: they awarded delegates to the loser as well as the winner based on precinct or county (I'm not 100 percent sure which). While McCain claimed easy victory after winning winner-take-all primaries, Democrats decided they'd try to get a quick decision and at the same time make the process more democratic.

I'm all for more democratic. I firmly believe that the closer you put actual voters to the candidate, the better. But don't kid yourself and think it's going to get things done faster.

OK. I'm done. Stories!

I got to check out Shoshone Falls for this story on the Magic Valley's summer tourism season. And I wrote a brief on a Jerome County Commissioners meeting agenda item that they didn't take up. The life of the intern!

Take care.

Pictures, take two...

So, as promised, a picture of a rainbow over Camp Sean:



And here's Tonya and me on the way to Ketchum:



Tonya decided to pitch me over the edge, most likely due to the goofy look on my face in the last picture:



Luckily Senator Duganz was there to save me:



That's all there is. Oh, wait, I forgot the demon chainsaw bear:



OK, there we go. I think that brings us up to speed. More later. Like stories from today!

S

And we're back...

I've been informed by a few of my loyal readers...wait, let's start over...

I've been informed by my few loyal readers that I haven't been updating as often as they'd like. So I'll try to do at least one entry per day Monday through Friday. But the weekends I'm busy learning How to Fight Loneliness. Fishing seems to work.

Speaking of which, I went camping this weekend about an hour out of town on Silver Creek, which was incredible. I only caught two fish the whole weekend, but part of that was the weather's fault, and the other part was the fish's fault. The trout in Silver Creek were huge, but very smart and would see you coming a good 30 to 40 feet before you got there. It's not like Rock Creek near Missoula. Montana has dumb fish.

Anyway, the two fish I caught were 16 and 14 inches, which is pretty good for stream trout. They were pretty wild catches, too, jumping out of the water and fighting hard. Good times. John, you have to get out here and check this place out. A-Sak, you can come too if you promise to be quiet.

Saturday evening was rainy, which killed the fishing and the cooking over the fire. However, it did produce one wicked rainbow over Camp Sean:

...

OK, Blogger.com is being a jerk and not letting me upload pictures right now. I did get them off my camera and I was gonna post some of Tonya and me and a scary chainsaw bear we saw last weekend, but I guess the internet/my grandmother is punishing me for not updating my blog often enough.

For those of you who don't know, I'm sure my grandmother actually controls the internet. Seriously, I remember way back in 1995, before Al Gore invented the internet, my grandmother was asking me and my mom if we had e-mail addresses so she could send us messages. We both kind of stared at each other, no idea what she was talking about. Passing trend, we told each other...

I love you, Grammie. See you in a few weeks!

Oh yeah...blogging...

So I know I promised pictures, but I can't find my camera. And when I say "I can't find my camera," I mean, "My camera is in my car, and I'm still in my pajamas." Rest assured, these pictures will see the light of day. I swear. One day.

Sorry I haven't been writing that much. I hit a rough patch on a couple stories and got a little disgruntled, but I seem to be over it. It's hard out here for a Sean.

Anyway, links to stories I've been working on.

A story on getting kids to read, which went through several different premises before I actually figured out what was going on. Woo!

There was a fire on election night that I wrote a story on, then did a follow-up on the next day. Might write one more, we'll see where it goes.

Also on the primary ballot were three pot initiatives in Hailey, Idaho. I wrote a story on the outcome of that vote which, like in Missoula, means very little. Did some election coverage too that got bundled into a staff report.

There were a couple other stories, I'm sure, but I don't remember what they were. Anyway, I'm going to go camping/fishing tonight, and hopefully my camera will make it out on that trip and then somehow find its way back to my desk so I can show you all some super-fun stuff. Lots of missing you people.

Sean

I'm back!

Hi all. Had a wonderful weekend with Tonya, Pat and Alicia in Challis, but more on that later. Like later this evening...

Stories you might have missed include:

A story on a family's Navy service for a Memorial Day package;

A quick article on an upcoming symposium;

And a piece on how the stimulus checks are affecting some lower-income people.

That's all for now, I must go to work to produce more quality stories for all of you to read. I'll have an update this evening about my weekend. Get excited!

See ya!

So apparently companies develop programs that states use for fishing licenses, and those companies are expensive. See?

I also wrote a story outlining camping options for Memorial Day. Exciting stuff here in the Magic Valley.

Tomorrow morning I'm leaving for Challis. I promise a more extensive blog when I return. Perhaps some pictures, too.

See ya-
S

My, what big teeth you have!

Wrote a story about the delisting of wolves and the people who want to hunt them (and some who only kind of want to hunt them). Wow, emotions ran high at this meeting.

Also a story on our freakishly windy Tuesday. It was actually kind of scary, and I saw a duck getting tossed about in the air. It was funny, in a really sad kind of way...

Newz? Sure, why not...

Sorry I haven't updated in a couple of days. You can see what I've been writing here, here (got a photo on that one, too) and here. My editors have kept me pretty busy, and I've got about seven articles I'm looking into, so there will be more to come for sure.

This weekend I'm taking a drive up to scenic Challis, Idaho, a good halfway point between Twin and Missoula. Tonya is going to meet me there, along with my good friend Senator Duganz and his better half. Just a quick weekend getaway, which I'm very much looking forward to.

That's all for now. More later, as always...

S

Stories in Monday's paper!

Here's a sports story. See, Bill, I know sports!

Also, I wrote another story on a shoe donation program. Check out the photo credit!

That's all. Spent yesterday fishing and reading. Nothing too exciting.

S

Everybody's working for the WEEKEND!!!

Today was my first in what I hope will be a long series of IDAHO ADVENTURE DAYS! Okay, so the first part of the day was spent reporting and doing errands (hint: buy milk after getting your oil changed), but after that
it got pretty cool.

Actually, wait...this morning was pretty crazy, too. I was driving over the Perrine Bridge when I saw this:



Yes, that person is outside the railing. And yes...



...he was wearing a parachute. So yeah, base jumpers are certifiably insane. I'd heard it was legal to jump off the bridge, but I still didn't believe people actually did it!

Anyway, I got my Idaho fishing license today. After my interview, I browsed the state's Fish and Game site to find a place within an hour or so where I could catch fish.

I settled upon Salmon Creek Reservoir, about 45 minutes south of Twin Falls (special thanks to my super-awesome girlfriend Tonya for leaving jelly beans in my glove compartment for the drive down!). I figured I'd set up on the shore under the shade of a tree and read while I "fished." It didn't really happen that way, as trees become few and far between the closer you get to Nevada. I got there and the lake shore looked like it hadn't seen a tree since mastodons had drank from its waters:



After an hour or so, all I was on track to catching was melanoma. So back to the car for me, and I figured since I was so close, why not check out...



And, since I had never been to Nevada before (Hooray! This makes 41 states!), I figured I may as well check out...



Don't worry, I only lost $3. But here's the great thing about Nevada: I stopped at a grocery store to get a snack for the drive home, and I learned that they sell liquor at grocery stores! Oh man, that was so cool! I mean, they had those little mini-bottles at the checkout line for impulse buyers!

So that was my Nevada experience. It lasted all of about 20 minutes, but it's changed me forever. I left feeling satisfied in a way one might feel after catching a small fish: at least it was a catch, but now you've got fish slime all over you.

I came home, did some laundry, ate some leftovers, emptied the dishwasher and wrote this. I know this one was long, so thanks for slogging through. Hope all is well. Again, comments make me feel cool (where's Fred Stapleton when you need him?), so keep 'em coming!

S

More news...

Well, I got to cover some spot news today. I was on my way out the door, and this came over the scanner. Woo-hoo for hanging around a few extra minutes...

I also wrote about a junior high school getting a Spirit Rock. For any of you familiar with Drummond, Mont., you'll know that high schoolers like to paint on the side of hills or mountains. In the absence of any nearby, schools in Idaho apparently import rocks on which to paint.

Went to a barbeque after work with some reporters, sat around drinking beer and telling stories with them for a bit before it got a little chilly and I headed home. Tomorrow have a quick morning interview to do before going fishing. Take care, all.

S

Stories!

As promised, some stories in the morning. It's going to be hot this weekend!

And this one was personally pretty interesting. I was in a car accident when I was a kid, so seeing an emergency response, even a practice one, was pretty interesting.

Hope all is well. It's Friday!

S

Day Four on the Job

Another day with not much to report. I went out to lunch with two of the reporters to a place called O'Dunkens in downtown Twin Falls. Ate on the sidewalk, weather here is good. We chatted a little about reporting in Twin (everyone here just calls the town 'Twin'), where we'd gone to school and the like. Good folks.

Tomorrow I have my first weekly assessment meeting with my editors. I'm a little nervous...

Today I was at the Twin Falls airport for a story when I saw a bus parked near the tarmac. The bus had no markings, and the windows were covered with thick white shades. A little later, an unmarked passenger airliner landed and pulled up next to the bus.

After some quick investigative reporting (I asked the person standing next to me), I learned that Twin Falls was an Immigration and Customs Enforcement transfer hub for deporting illegal immigrants. The Times-News did a story about the deportations a little more than a month ago, but unfortunately it's not on their Web site anymore.

That's all for now, I'll link stories in the morning. I'm going to get a fishing license tomorrow and go catch a bunch of fish this weekend, methinks. At least, I hope. Wish me luck.

S

A story in the morning!

Good morning. It's windy here, it seems. Things are flying through the air by my window, but they may just be birds.

Here's story number two, on weather. More to come, methinks.

Yesterday involved a lot of driving around town, and I only got lost once! After work I went back to Brad's and read for most of the evening, so not much to report.

As part of my internship, I have to come up with a big project story and write it for a Sunday Front Page feature. I've got another day to think of ideas... any suggestions?

S

My Debut!

First day on the job and I get to write about fishing!

Ida Ho! (Get it? It's like "Land Ho!"... forget it.)

This is how the Gem State welcomed me Sunday. I guess I hit the border at around 12:30 p.m., in what might have been my worst pass-crossing experience of the winter of 2007-2008. That's right, on Mother's Day.

Granted, it was a lot nicer about 100 miles after the pass. I traveled down U.S. Highway 93 for all but about seven miles of the drive, taking me through Salmon, Idaho, the birthplace of Sakajawea, and Arco, Idaho, the first community in the world to be powered by nuclear energy. The wind helped me get decent gas mileage for the first half of the journey, but at times it threatened to knock me off the road, a scary thought considering how close the road ran to the Salmon River.

Though I stopped to take some pictures, I also practiced an art form that I assume others have pioneered: drive-by photography. It's a lot like a drive by shooting, but instead you're shooting pictures. Some of these pictures might give you an idea of what I saw on the trip. Others just prove how many bugs met their demise on my windshield.









I arrived at Brad's house at about 6:30 p.m. Brad and Jodi's daughter was visiting from Oregon for Mother's Day and had made sushi for dinner, which was a welcome way to break my day-long diet of gas station hot dogs and Red Bull. We chatted for a little bit about UM professors we both know before I retired to my room to unpack. I'm still not completely done, but I've got most of my things in places I can find them.

Today began my first day as a reporter at the Times-News. I followed Brad to the newsroom and was inundated with introductions to staff, computer systems and basic protocol. I'm sure my co-workers will get fed up with all my questions by Wednesday afternoon, which gives me about a day and a half more to make sure I get in some good ones.

Following work, I drove around town a bit and got lost a couple of times (I'd like to say it was on purpose, but you'd all know the truth). Then I went for a walk around Brad's neighborhood, which borders the Snake River Canyon:



It's the one Evel Knievel tried to jump back in 1974. You can still see his launch ramp on the rim.

That's all for now. I'll link to my stories as soon as they're posted on the Time-News site. Hope all is well. Leave comments so I feel cool.

S

Headed out.

I'm packed. My mom's garage is filled with a bunch of my stuff. My carpet is shampooed, and I even got my security deposit back! Tonya's mother is cooking us dinner, and I'm having breakfast with my mom and some friends tomorrow morning before heading out. My route will just take me down US Highway 93 for the better part of the 388-mile drive, and should be fairly painless. Will update when I get there.

It's that time again!

That's right, it's summer (finally), which means it's time for the Second Annual Sean's Doing Something Somewhere Else Blog Series. For those of you who weren't around last year, I blogged from Prague, Czech Republic as I reported on minority issues in the Central European nation.

This year we'll forgo international exploration in favor of a land far more mysterious: Idaho! Starting on Monday May 12, I will be the intern at the Times-News in beautiful Twin Falls, Idaho. I've never been there, and I've only got a slight idea of what to expect, so aside from already knowing the language, it promises to be almost as confusing/exciting as last summer.

James Wright, the newspaper's editor, told me a couple weeks ago that I'll be working as a reporter on the news desk for one month, as a Web-type person on the online desk for a month, and as an editor/designer on the copy desk for one month. All told, it should be a well-rounded internship that might help me figure out exactly what I want to do in this industry.

A few improvements over last year's blog:
1) There's more color! Woo-hoo!
2) I learned how to insert links into the text, thanks to journalism professor/local superhero Nadia White, who despite my best efforts actually managed to teach me a thing or two.
3) There will be pictures, like this one of my girlfriend Tonya and me:



She's looking for a new car so she can make the 6-hour drive from Missoula to Twin Falls a couple times this summer. Anyone know of anything reliable and cheap?

As with last year, I'm not 100 percent sure how often I'll update. I still don't have a laptop, so I'll have to figure out something else as far as that area is concerned. Don't worry, though. I won't leave you all hanging for too long...

So that's all for now. I'm spending a lot of this week packing up my apartment and loading up my Subaru Outback (name: Subie-Q) before heading out on Sunday morning. I'll be staying with Brad Hurd, the Times-News' publisher, who asks that as rent payment I agree to dog-sit for him when he goes out of town. I like dogs.