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.