Well, I am definitely under the weather with something. I'm not sure what but I know I have no energy, feel nauseous and my brain is as thick as molasses right now.
I doubt it's the swine flu although with all the bacon and pork chops I have eaten over the years, I'm sure if the pigs could get revenge on me that they would.
When a person gets really sick, they have to stay home from work. In my case, I am staying home but doing my work and I wouldn't have thought that possible not too many years ago.
A few weeks back someone asked me if I get frustrated in my job from time to time and I answered that I surely did. I then told them that when I wake up the next day, throw on some old clothes and walk 21 feet to my job, I realize that I have it made over a great many Americans who have to do far more to earn a paycheck.
The other day, I covered the parents of astronaut Scott Altman coming to a local school to talk about their son and outer space. A favorite topic with most kids, the presentation was fun and lively and I spent most of the time taking pictures.
I didn't have to take any notes about Scott since I knew they would be everywhere on the Web for me to find and they were. His biography was in at least a half-dozen sites and I could read them at my leisure and glean what I wanted to include in the story.
All I did was make notes of cute, or funny or interesting things the parents or kids said and I was done. That is a far cry from the old days where you would have to record everything, listen again and then make phone calls all over to confirm or find out more information. Yes, the Internet makes journalism easier.
In the old days, a newspaper would often times have to struggle to decide what stories went in a paper and which due to limited space would not. Often a decent but time specific story wouldn't make it in and that always made someone upset or mad with an editor.
On the web there is never any such problem. Five Top Stories today? That's fine. But if it's eight or nine, that's fine too. In cyberspace there is all the room you need. In fact, at LDN, our motto is "All the room in the world for your good news."
In the old days, there were old typewriters and carbon paper and little jars of white-out to cover mistakes. And when an extra bit of information came in that had to be included, it was back to the typewriter to retype the entire story.
Sometimes it is easy not to realize how much easier things are using a Word file.
There is also the opportunity to add something even after a story has been published. All one has to do is open the file, add the information wherever it fits best and then save and there it is in the story as if it's been there forever.
Pictures sure make journalism easier. Often, they do say a thousand words and in print the cost of full color allows only a few. But on the web, colors, sizes and quantity mean nothing.
Our current record for color pictures in one issue of LDN is 64 in one issue. You could never do that in the old days with standard print publications.
Maybe the most important thing about internet journalism is that the information is by and large free. Yes, there are some papers and magazines that want you to sign up for worthless e-mails but they are slowly learning this hurts their readership and thus their sponsors are going somewhere else with their ads.
One of the strangest things about my job is the office at work. We have limited space so when we hired our last employee, she got my desk. I rarely used the space, usually just whisking in, chatting and running back out to somewhere else so it hasn't inconvenienced me at all. I simply go back home, write up the story, post it and in the case of today, I walk back the 21 feet to my bed and try to get better before I need to be out and about again this afternoon.
The internet has many aggravating traits to an old duffer like me. But some of the things I can do, even while I'm sick, makes me appreciate the medium all the more. If only it didn't screw up from time to time and ask me if that's OK.
Freelance writer, columnist, author and writing coach, ex-Chicagoan Mike Fak presently resides in Central Illinois. More information about Mike's services are available at his home website www.mikefak.com
Mike currently writes primarily humor columns for searchwarp bi-weekly and is the managing editor of www.lincolndailynews.com
Mike now offers a 26,000 word e-book on making money as a freelance writer for only $10.00 at this page. http://www.mikefak.com/id45.html
It is difficult to take a sick day, when you work from home. It's also difficult to get away from your work. But I think the benefits of working from home, far outweigh the negatives. I hate to admit it Mike, but I remember the old typewriters with carbon paper and whiteout too. It wasn't that long ago was it?
Thanks Brianna. No it wasn't that long ago. I never could type worth a hoot and I had to do stories over and over unless I had a fifty-five gallon drum of whiteout.
It is a great thing to do when you are off work ill. Though make sure your ill or your employer may get suspicions of your little online job. Also, what annoys me is people that claim they can't work so take state benefit payments. Why can't you get a job online?
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