New Internet Venture

Hey guys.

What have you been up to? Not much has been going on over here. Same old, same old. Since I'm not publishing the Star Tribune or Pioneer Press anymore, I've been looking for things to do. I can only spend so much time helping my wife redecorate our house or work on my screenplay.

My buddy Kevin and I were talking over beers the other day and he said I needed to get back in the game. We were talking about my screenplay, The Deadline, and he said a screenplay was fine and everything, but I need to get back in the saddle and do what I love and that's business, mostly publishing. And I think Kev is right. Why not try to get back into publishing?

But you know what I've learned from this blog? Paper publishing is the past. The internet is the future. You can say whatever you want and it doesn't matter. You can even just take the articles that other people write, put them on your web blog and act like you're reporting, especially with politics. Kevin thinks I should start my own internet paper and do the publishing for that. Maybe I will, who knows. I just need to find something to do with my free time.

A Wealth of Support

Thanks to everyone who has sent warm wishes to me after hearing about the verdict. As you might have heard, Avista will mostly likely continue with the trial. They're not a group who will just go down without a fight obviously. You can bet that the hacks are pumped about the idea of a longer trial, it gives them more to write about. But I'm still going to take the high road on this and will abide by the judge's decision for now.

A friend of mine who sent her regrets also showed me an internet post that says that a new internet site wants to hire me as a joke. They want me to be their unpaid intern. That shows you what kind of class these internet hacks have. All they can do is report on things that other people do and kick people when they think they are down.

If I was going to work for any new internet blog, it would be Kramer's MinnPost. I've already got the experience managing almost all those reporters, and if I worked there I wouldn't have to pay for any benefits or retirement when they all retire in the next five to eight years. The bottom line would be golden and they could go back to writing the same stories that they have been writing for the last twenty years.

Thanks again to the people who have sent cards and notes and have called. You're the best.

A Sad Day for Minneapolis Media

Well, as I'm sure you've heard, Judge Higgs has ruled in favor of Dean Singleton and has said that I'm on a year long vacation from the Star Tribune publisher position.

I could whine about how unfair the ruling is. I could complain about how the sharks like Lambert are going to use the unfair ruling to take pot shots at me and the paper because they don't have any class and use other's misfortune to make a living. I could take my own shots at Dean Singleton for dragging both companies through the mud by suing everyone associated with the Star Tribune (Kevin gets to stay, by the way, I'm the only one found "guilty", surprise surprise).

But I'm above that.

I will just say that the law is the law, and Judge Higgs interpreted it as he saw it. I'll also say that Harte will do a great job with the paper and that when I come back to the publisher position, I'm going to make the paper even better than it was before.

Also, I'd like to thank all my supporters and the people at the Star Tribune for working through the tough times. Don't worry, we'll get through this.

Our Own Paparazzi

Minnesota doesn't need paparazzi. We have internet reporters who will report on the internet any rumor that one of his buddies who still works at a real job emails to him. Just read this ridiculous report from Lambert, who thinks that someone told the Star Tribune editorial board to not support a gas tax for fixing the bridge. He finishes with, "I don't even have ninth-hand as to who that might be."

Great reporting. Keep up the good work. I'm surprised he didn't find a way to slam me in it. (You can just see his earlier post for that.) Like I said, who needs the paparazzi?

Tag Analysis

I had some extra time this weekend because it was a three day weekend and I used it to do a quick analysis of the tags on this internet blog.

I try to use informative, comprehensive, and detailed tags in order to identify trends in my writings. Here's what I've found. I've used 197 separate tags as of my last report and will clearly surpass the 200 tag mark with this post. At the current rate of tagging, with a constant output rate, I will most likely surpass the 300 mark sometime in late September or early October.

If you look at the tags on my internet blog, you can see that I cover lots of topics. Of the 197 tags, I've used four tags seven times and three tags six times. On the other end of the tag spectrum, I've used 157 tags just once. What's that tell me? That there's a light focus on a few spots, but a diversity of topics on this blog.

There's another thing that's important with this analysis and that's the actual tags. It's great to see so many tags being used, but I should pay more attention to using quality tags. For example, "budget" and "data" only show up once. That's no good. Also, "good ideas" only shows up once. That's just a flat out error!

Now that this tag analysis is finalized, check back to see how implementing the adjustments to tagging will improve this internet blog.

That Pervert Larry Craig

Kate published her article today on how the Star Tribune missed the fact that a United States senator was having sex with other men in the bathroom at the airport. I've got something to add. Stroke of bad luck #3: Reporters sit around. I'm glad we're paying these guys so much to come into the office every once and awhile to make a few phone calls and write up ten stories apiece on the state fair. No wonder Avista wants me to keep hacking away at our bloated labor costs.

And what in the world was going through Larry David's head? It's one thing to get a hot hooker if he's staying over night at the Graves or something. But having some dude give you a BJ in the airport bathroom is gross and wrong. That's something that is obviously going to come back and get you in the ass, if you know what I'm saying.

Did you see what he said, too? "I'm not gay, the people who I have sex with are." No, dude. Having sex with guys makes you gay. At least bisexual. And cheap. Just fork over the cash for some privacy, that way you won't be arrested by some rent a cop and the story won't be covered like three months after the fact.

Don't Listen To The Vikings

Fucking Vikings. I don't know if you saw it, but they backed out of our deal with us. They were supposed to buy some of the land that the Star Tribune owns, but decided that the price was too high and that they would look too committed to being in Minneapolis. Then they wouldn't be able to get as much public funding as they wanted.

I told them that they could make a killing off that land. All they had to do was try and include something with LRT to connect up with the new bridge and they'd get all the government money they could want. Instead of buying the land and giving us some capital to sustain our operation for awhile, they backed out and we got screwed. You probably don't know this, but land sales are a great way to generate short term capital. There was even a piece in the journal about it. But now we're stuck with the land and pretty soon we will be stuck with an empty building when we finish consolidating workspace. And I had to make up a bullshit story for a press release. Thanks Zigi.