Iphone bliss

I got an upgrade for fathers day. An Iphone. I’ve had it for a day and I love it. The battery is a little weak but I will have to live with it. I love it. Does anyone know how to put it in silent?

— Nate smith

Star Trek…

As most of you all know by now, the new Star Trek opens Friday. Everyone is geeked about the new direction of the franchise and why not, it looks cool. I am a professed Star Wars guy, so we in the galactic empire look at the movie as cool, and show the crew of the Enterprise some respect. But Star Wars is better in my book.

I got to thinking of the idea of the young members of the Enterprise and got to thinking, why not remake Episodes 4, 5 and 6 in Star Wars? Or.. Make an episode 3 1/2 between the Vadar’s birth and Luke’s entrance?

Although Lucas should be a part of it, the writing should be done by someone else. But since Star Trek is going back to its roots, why not Star Wars?
—Nate Smith

Come on Tiger…

Has anyone else seen the new Tiger Gatorade commercials and think they were cigarette ads from the 60s? I mean, let’s get kids hooked on Gatorade so they can focus. I tried the new Tigerade last week and I think I am allergic to it, it made me itch. Come on Tiger, you’re better than that.

But by judging his recent performances at the Masters and Quail Hollow, maybe he’s not. He has to “focus through the ficus.”

—Nate Smith

Career Day

Speaking at Washington High School some Wednesday morning in mid-April for Career Day is a usual task for me. I used to be able to pass around the job, but now that most of the Times-Herald staff works nights, it’s been falling upon my shoulders. Sophomores from all area schools — including Shoals, Loogootee and all Daviess County schools — are bussed into Washington’s Hatchet House where they choose to learn about three different careers that interest them.
Today, I emphasized to the poor schmucks who chose “journalism” as a possible career a couple of interesting points:
1) Journalists rarely make lots of money.
2) Journalists in today’s world for the most are multi-talented. They may have to go to the game, write a story for the print product, get the coach’s comments in audio format, shoot photographs, shoot video, edit audio, video and stills, design a page and post it all on the Web site. That’s sure different from going to the game, writing a story and eating a Brats.
3) English, math, science — the basics they are all still very important. Psychology doesn’t hurt either.
4) They may not be a print product in 5 or 10 years, but there will always be a need for “local news gatherers.” If not, who would tell us who won the game — Barr-Reeve or North Daviess?
—Editor Melody Brunson

Making the grade

Having the privilege to serve on a local scholarship committee, today I spent a lot of my day perusing transcripts and essays from eager students in our community hoping to get some cash to help alleviate the burden of paying for college. We had 40 applicants, vying for 10 scholarships, so it wasn’t easy. But I will say I was impressed with many of the students we have from this area who are pursuing dynamic careers, and many of them expressed a desire to come back to Daviess County to work. That should be part of our goals, as we plan for economic development and for the construction of I-69, to have jobs available in the future for the younger generation to make their home here and earn a respectable living. One particular essay written by a student quoted Mother Theresa as saying, “We can’t do great things; but we can do small things with love.” The more I thought about that, the more I liked it. We may not all be over-achievers, but everything we do should be done in love.
—Editor Melody Brunson

One more pack.

I am on my last pack of cigarettes. Wednesday is my quit day and hopefully, no more smoking. I have warned my family and co-workers on my decision to quit and the nastiness that comes with it.

Just do me a favor, don’t give me any advice.

—Nate Smith

Here’s the video

I knew someone would put up a video of the controversial shot from the North Daviess-Barr-Reeve game at sectional Friday. But since the video is bad, I don’t think it ends anything at all. Quit taping from the TV and just put the video up on it’s own…

Here’s the link:

The Shot

—Nate Smith

WHS filling up my files!

It seems like only yesterday, good ol’e Washington High was in a sectional drought and all of a sudden the Hatchets have won five in a row. I’ll bet it’s almost more than die-hard Jasper and Vincennes fans can take. My husband used to bleed Lincoln green, but I’ve about got him converted to local basketball.
I don’t have much responsibility any more covering the tournament game. In fact my sports writing ability is limited and the guys prefer their own photos to mine. But one of the tasks I still handle during tourney time is creating and posting slideshows on the Internet. It’s a fun kind of job. Now, we haven’t been creating multi-media for the last five years — all Hatchet wins, but we’ve been doing it for quite awhile. In fact, even last year I used to spend Sunday afternoon on my home computer making the slideshows, because therein was where the program we had was operable.
But the funny thing I was thinking this morning, as I readied to post today’s Slideshow, was how many more “WHS wins!” titles could I come up with to post on the server. Each new titled slideshow must be different from the year’s before in order for the program to work. I’ve just about beat a dead horse trying to rename files each year….I wasn’t smart enough five years ago to use “Hatchets Win ‘05,” etc. But now that I’ve figured out how to keep it simple science, feel free to keep winning boys. I’ll gladly create and post slideshows into late March if needed.
—Editor Melody Brunson

Blog creates a little laughter; basketball almost over

The weirdest thing happened earlier today…
One thing that allows me a little job security is computer maintenance. I was working on fixing sports editor Todd Lancaster’s computer/e-mail/Internet browser when an email from Barr-Reeve teacher Mike DeCoursey came in to Todd making fun of his sports blog postings about Tuesday night’s sectional play at North Daviess. Then I ran out to Subway about noonish to grab a bite and who was there? Mike DeCoursey. We shared a good hearty laugh in the sandwich line about Todd and his bias for Washington Catholic. Of course DeCoursey and I are both now Barr-Reeve fans, although we both have ties to North Daviess too. It’s good to laugh about sports this time of year. Some folks just take it way too serious, in my opinion.

If the Vikings make it to the final game, I hope to be in attendance on Saturday/Monday night, but if not this may be the first year I haven’t attended the local sectional in many years. It just seems like not a good place to take a 3-year-old and 4-year-old. It’s entirely too crowded at ND with four teams playing. My children would be an annoyance to not only me, but the fans surrounding me. At a ballgame, my kids are much more content spreading out their Barbie dolls and coloring books, than watching the game. And then there are the numerous bathroom trips that youngsters require. They just aren’t quite old enough to turn loose, yet. Maybe someday…and before you know it they will be driving cars and taking themselves to games.
—Melody Brunson, editor

And the winners are….

Oops! Can’t really say who the winners are yet….
The Associated Press called this morning to inform me that the Times-Herald won six Indiana Associated Press Managing Editor awards. I am forbidden from naming who won what until after our AP Convention in mid-May, but I can say I’m very proud of our staff. Also, Kelly Overton, staff photographer, kicked butt.
—Melody Brunson, editor