Month: August 2007

Categories
Tribute Bob

A sad day for journalism …

Scripps has announced that it will sell The Albuquerque Tribune or, barring that, will close the paper.

I can’t even begin to say how devastated I am by this.

The Trib definitely was the apogee of my journalism career. I’ve never worked with a group of more talented, conscientious people. I’m still in touch with many of them. It also marked the first year of my marriage, our first house, fond memories of roaming the Sandia foothills with Pigpen and Crystal … So many memories flood back to me as I sit in a half-filled house that Lara and I are moving into in Knoxville, thousands of miles and decades away from the Albuquerque days.

I’m hoping for the best for my friends at The Trib and thinking about them a lot these days.

Perhaps the most amazing thing here is that the Tribunista spirit still is alive and well. In the story announcing the proposed sale, former and current Trib employees are flocking back to log memories and pay homage to the greatest little paper that ever was. It definitely brings a tear to my eye as I scroll through them, and it comforts me to know that no matter what happens, The Trib will live on in these incredible people.

Categories
Travel Bob

The travel gods give, the travel gods take …




dfw_sunrise.jpg

Originally uploaded by Suffering the Benz

Business travel can really suck. This past week was a great example. I managed to get stuck at Chicago’s O’Hare airport during a swarm of terrible thunderstorms that raked the Second City. As I watched lightning crash around the airfield it became increasingly clear that I wasn’t getting home that night. I was booked onto three flights. All canceled, forcing me to wait in a 2-hour cab line to get to the only hotel I could find. It was all the way downtown.

The next morning, I arrived at the airport early, knowing it would be a zoo. It was. After a few delays, I did manage to get home at about 5 p.m.

But the trip had a few bright spots:

— The sunrise pictured here, as viewed from my hotel room at DFW airport in Dallas. I returned to my room after a 5 a.m. struggle in the fitness center to be greated by this scene. Very cool.

— The Knoxville effect. It’s never hard to tell which gate the Knoxville flight is departing from. It’s the one with all the people wearing gaudy orange clothes and baseball caps with the UT Vols logo. And they talk to each other. While other gates are packed with people doing their best not to acknowledge each other’s existence, the KnoxVegas gate is filled with people who talk to each other and socialize. This was true even as we watched flight after flight cancel at O’Hare. Talked to several great folks and we decided to laugh instead of cry. A few of them spent the night at O’Hare, and I saw them the next morning after I returned from my hotel to try again. A true Knoxville experience.

Categories
Uncategorized

Getting ready to close the deal




lara_dock.jpg

Originally uploaded by Suffering the Benz

We close on the new house tomorrow and I’ll be glad when that’s over. Of course, the real work starts from there. The move. Thanks to Lara, that probably won’t be as painful as it could be. She’s been ruthlessly efficient, building spreadsheets detailing what will go where in the new abode and ruthlessly discarding the crap we’ve accumulated during our 10 years in the house in Hardin Valley.

Today, we did the walk through, which gave us a final opportunity to measure things and plan what will go where. In this picture, Lara is standing on our dock with Hidden Cove in the background. It was pretty exciting to stand there and look around, and it took everything I had not to jump in the water to celebrate. There will be time for that tomorrow …

I added a few photos from today’s walkthrough to the Flickr set I created for the house. Hope to add more as we get moved in.