Star Tribune sale

The not so big news, but the most exciting thing in my world today is the fact that I am flying home today for my New Years vacation. I think we are also going to do a few hours worth of tourist stuff in Philadelphia today too.

The big news in my world (besides Former President Gerald Ford dying) is the sale of the Star Tribune. The surprise of the sale was something even the executive officers of the company acknowledged yesterday.

It was a surprise mainly because when McClatchy decided to buy Knight Ridder, they assured employees of the Star Tribune that it was the one paper that was safe because the Strib was its "flagship paper." There was a lot of consternation about what would happen when McClatchy spent all its cash buying KR, but the one thing Stribbers felt assured in was that at least our paper would be in the same chain, whatever other changes may come down the line.

Perhaps the sale shouldn't have been a surprise. Perhaps the jumping ship that editor Anders Gyllenhaal did last week (to take a job at McClatchy's Miami paper) should have been an indicator of major changes ahead.

All that aside, the biggest concern right now is, what next? I feel that it has been the trend that, following the sale of a newspaper, layoffs or buyouts (in the case of companies with unions, including the Star Tribune) occur. Between us, I think there is some need to weed out a few people in the Star Tribune newsroom, who really don't produce much work, while others are working their tails off, but I think those positions need to be replaced with people who do work hard, not less staff. And I am concerned about prior cuts to the night desk, especially design positions, that have not been filled. The designers are STILL working doubly hard, with no relief in sight just yet. They keep losing people but not filling the positions, so the cuts by attrition there have been ginormous.

I could take time to write about problems in the newspaper industry in general, but then I would be writing about things I don't understand fully (not that that is much different than my job, but at least there I have someone else who analyzes things and I just write about it!)

Anyway, its a big time of uncertainty and I wish my former colleagues and friends the best. I am also a little sad for me because I always planned to return to the Star Tribune someday. I hope I still have a quality paper to return to.

mail service?

My mail sucks. Last month I got a birthday card a month late--despite it being sent a month earlier. My Netflix movies are constantly three days late, which means sometimes that, despite being signed up for three a month, I have ZERO netflix movies in my posession. Annoying. Today was the worst: A bill that was due last Friday came on Monday. This was for my health insurance, something I would like to stay. Luckily, my health insurance has a 30-day grace period (that's a really long time...) so I am okay with that.

Someone suggested I get a P.O. Box. I guess I am down the street from the post office, but the idea of driving to get my mail seems odd. Plus, who knows if my P.O. Box would be any faster. It seems that maybe the mail takes a long time just getting out to Manahawkin...

NYC

I discovered that I am only an hour and a half from Jersey City, which is the same distance that I am from Philly. Which means that I am pretty much two hours from NYC, assuming I park in JC and take the train into the city. Driving into the city wouldn't be bad, except for that whole parking thing. That is not easy, methinks.

Dinner was amazing. I love Indian-Chinese food; its just this amazing hybrid of tastes and it works so well. We had my favorite dish, Chicken 65. We also had some wine.

Ravi needed to catch a train at Penn Station, so we dropped him off there, after screaming random stuff out the window at him, probably mortifying him beyond belief. Then we drove back to Jersey City where Maya and Vikram totally twisted my arm into staying the night. And by twist, they just touched my wrist and I was like OKAY! I really didn't feel like driving an hour and a half at that point.

We went to their favorite local Jersey City bar, drank some more...then finally stumbled into bed at about 3am.

The nicest part about the weekend? Spending time with friends. I mean, two of the guys on Saturday night were Vikram and Maya's friends, but it just felt like normal. And it was exciting to "crash" at Maya's place and go home in my rumpled clothes the next day, like I had friends again. I know this sounds stupid, but it is silly little things like that that make a difference to me.

I am feeling the fact that I don't have friends here in town, but I am forging a tentative friendship with a girl who works in my building and also lives on the island. Maybe some of her friends will be cool too and then I can start my own little friendships!

Blogs

I think you all should read my friend Dylan's blog: A Place Called Blog. It's just a really really funny blog. He's got this very sarcastic, dry, witty sense of humor and its even funnier if you know him because he is very stoic in person. (Scroll back and read older entries too.)

I realized my blog reading takes a LOT of time. I read a bunch of the Star Tribune blogs, some random blogs about nothing, some celebrity news blogs, SepiaMutiny and some related blogs, etc. I once stayed an extra two hours after work, just so I could read all my blogs. I can't read anymore!

But, ignoring all that, what blogs do you read?

Finding a place to live

I have a place to live! YAY!

I am going to live in the 2-bedroom place in Surf City for an amazing price. House-hunting on Saturday was depressing and exciting at the same time--depressing cause the places in my price range were SO awful, but exciting cause it makes me appreciate my new place even more.

Maya and Vikram came over last night and had dinner with us. We went out for Manhattan Clam Chowder, which is tomato-based instead of cream-based. I never knew there was such a thing! We also had really excellent crab cakes.

Also, the neighborhood is really nice. It's a dead-end neighborhood but enough cars go by because the end of the block (4 houses down) is the Surf City Yacht Club (and the bay. and the sunset.) The neighbors are year-round, too, so that adds to the safety. The guy who owns the house is part of the fire department, which is two blocks away, and is also where the police department is located. The beach is three blocks away. Long blocks, but nevertheless...!

The place is so relaxing and there is a nice breeze all the time...except it was really humid today and I felt hot. I can't imagine what the summer will be like! Oh well, I'll just go to the beach when it gets that hot =)

Post-birthday

Saturday afternoon Maya, Ravi, Tom and my co-worker Brian came to my house. I made butternut squash and apple soup, cranberry cream cheese wontons, spicy grilled cheeses and had apple cider for drinks and apple pie for dessert. I REALLY liked the cranberry cream cheese wontons. I could've sat and at those all afternoon, for serious.

Later, my landlords Anne and Brian joined the party. It was a nice group--again, good company and good conversation.

After everyone left, I quickly showered and changed into my indian outfit and headed north on the parkway to Dobbs Ferry, NY, for a Diwali party at my aunt's house. Anyways, they had a birthday cake for me! It was really nice and I felt a little emotional. I was touched...

I then had a horrendous drive home. Somewhere on the Turnpike someone hit some sort of animal that was all shredded on the road. The driver in the lane next to me sort of hit it again, thus throwing bits of dead animal carcass at my car. So now I am driving down the parkway, in my Indian clothes, at midnight, with bits of bloody meat, probably rife with diseases, stuck to my car. Some of it comes off with my windshield wiper fluid, but a bit just beyond my wipers stubbornly stays stuck. I kept putting more fluid onto my windshield, hoping to loosen it off with the water...and in the process MISSED the exit for the Garden State Parkway.

My mind is so full of dead animal meat, that it takes a REALLY long time before I realize I am not on the GSP...like when I reached a sign that said Freehold, but didn't say Asbury Park...then I started to think, uhhh this isn't right. I ended up having to go all the way down to 195, go across the state and then head south (I could've taken a highway across, but the freeway felt safer and faster.) So I didn't get home until 2am.

this morning I had to drive BACK up to Point Pleasant Beach to cover a heart walk. But it was cool because I've never seen the boardwalk up there before, and its apparently one of the best, according to many people I've talked to. Now I am at work, tired...but there is a nice flower arrangement to keep me company! Chao sent a cute fall-themed arrangement to my office. It even has a pumpkin in it. My mom sent a big bunch home, and it came in her signature blue vase, even. Both have alstromerias, which make me very happy.

Library

YAY for having a library card. My inaugral rental is a teen novel. :-/ But that is what the library is good for: reading the books you never want to admit you want to read but you want to read. Then you don't have to buy it and have this stupid book lying around. I will move up to non-teen lit soon, but I want something sort of mindless for the next few days. Besides, I still am reading the Omnivore's Dilemma, so I can easily switch between totally mindless to totally mindful.

Um. Mindful is a word. Now.

I had a good sob this morning when my dad left, but I managed to not cry until the car was down the street. No one wants to remember their last look at someone (for a few months anyways) as that person crying.


Anyway, I like this library. It's small but its the kind of place where if you call to ask if a book is in, they will walk over the shelf and look. Cute. I really like where I live. I like my neighbors too.