Recent content by mudduck

Without giving too much away, let's just say there's not a lot of checking out needed on my part with this agency. I'm very well acquainted with it. I realize applying is a far cry from having an offer on the table. I should apply, but like I said. Cold feet.

I'm in a quandry. I often times look at job listings, just to see what's out there. And today, I found one that I am not only qualified for, but very qualified for (they want someone who has been a professional media person). I wouldn't have to move out of the area and it's DOUBLE what I'm...

Right now, I really hate Christmas. I don't have many pleasant Christmas memories from my childhood. Dad usually found some reason or another to yell, holler or hit. That would include beating the crap out of me when I was 17, and on crutches awaiting knee surgery two weeks later. Yeah...

Will the fun ever end? The latest? Cohort is threatening legal action. Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.

Thank you for asking. As I suspected, one official was furious. He (and a cohort) have both said lots to my editor (who is backing me 100 percent). The other public official is just fine with the story. Elliotte was spot-on. Part of it is the "sweating it if you're wrong." I knew I wasn't, but...

Decided to use my alter ego for this post. I have a story coming out today (and, unbeknownst to me until this morning, was already picked up and published today by another nearby paper in our company). Without going into too much detail, this news story involves public officials and because it...

Drinking heavily? Sounds like an idea, hahaha. O-T, I've been looking up at the Heavens for a while now and telling the Lord that I am nowhere as strong as He seems to think I am. He's not listening. :( I've never been one to ask for help - probably a major fail on my part, but that's how...

I'm overwhelmed. Not the "ohmigosh, I'm gonna jump off a bridge" type overwhelmed. But the "too much going on and I need to run away" overwhelmed. Or "stop the world and let me off" overwhelmed. I have a spouse dealing with major health problems (chronic, at times debilitating and not going...

I am a cops reporter. Quite a while back, I was parked at the courthouse where the sheriff's office is. After I was finished there, since it was such a nice day, I decided to walk to the police department to go through the reports I needed to review there. When I returned to my vehicle, I...

If this belongs on the journalism board, I apologize. If anyone is going to the Minnesota Newspaper Association convention, please PM me. Thanks.

I do have a dog in this fight, a very little toy chihuahua type dog, but a dog nonetheless. I wrote a couple stories related to a campaign stop recently. On our newspaper's online comments, my paper and myself were both accused of being liberal and being right-wing nut cases. From the same...

That's the whole stupid thing about this. I have excellent credit. Just have large balances on the credit cards which need to be paid off.

To make a rather long story - a story which includes bounced paychecks, unemployment, an evil paper which didn't think freelancers should be paid - yes, an epic disaster more than four years in the making, I am finally regularly employed. It's an usual situation in the journalistic world, the...

My paper is 35 hours per week, no overtime allowed. We're still considered full-time, at least our benefits are still there. No one quit over the cut, but it makes life very difficult having to watch hours more than what's happening in the community. We're an ACM paper, but I haven't heard if...

Small town high school sports, at least in my area, have officially become too big for their britches. I have a teenager - good kid, but did fail a class last year which is being retaken this year - who has been kicked off a team after three years on varsity for failing that one class (never...