Dear Diary - Day Four

There’s an editorial imposed deadline here as I see that blogger’s going to go down soon. Well, call it kismet because I’m almost done for the night, too.

So many people getting it tonight I can hardly stand it. Especially as this tired little blogonaut is starting to flag badly. Been doing a lot of writing and thinking here and elsewhere but just can’t seem to get that novel done. Still, more than pleased with what I’m putting out there so far. Back to evolution to explain it but change can come in big steps and change can come bit by bit but, wait around long enough, and it’s coming. Well, I feel another change coming. Specifically, I signed up at the Kos over the weekend and my week in exile is about to expire. So, expect me to be trotting out a bit more political commentary over the next few days as I try and build up a catalog of potential diaries to throw up day after day. My politics, in case you haven’t been able to tell are somewhere so far to the left of the normal as to threaten to fold the very fabric of space time and warp the fabric of reality. I consider liberal an insult only because it doesn’t go far enough, if you catch my drift. But I’m a product of a liberal education at a liberal arts college that’s been very kind to my very liberal family over the years in one of the bluest states around. Blue-collar, anyway. So what, really, did you expect from me?

Anyhow, highlights of the night:

Cranked out some major word count. All over the place, really.

Found a kicking image of convection in action following a massive thermal updraft thanks to the releasing of the potential energy of intermolecular bonds. Pretty.

Stewart and Kopel together again on the Daily Show. For two people who’ve been at odds in the past nice to see them smiling and talking. And listening to one another.

Mr. Colbert’s guest tonight. Mr. Swartz of the Timberland company. Fascinating pewrspective on modern corporate citizenship.

Mr. Simmon’s latest column. I like pretty much all of it except the Celtic parts. But, well, if I may, here’s the part I like best:

This speaks to a whole 'nother issue: When I started writing columns for my old Web site and built a miniscule base of loyal readers, the local establishment (the Globe, Herald and WEEI) pooh-poohed me in a variety of ways. At first, they played the "nobody's reading him" card. Once it became apparent that some people WERE reading me, they switched to the "he doesn't matter, he doesn't come into the clubhouse card," which was funny because I wanted to infiltrate the clubhouses. Unfortunately, this was the late '90s -- when you told someone you wrote an Internet sports column, they reacted like you were selling knives door-to-door. Really? You get paid for that? I didn't have a chance in hell of getting a press pass from any local team. Not being allowed in clubhouses was the best thing that could have happened -- it forced me to think outside the box, write from the fan's perspective, try to anticipate potential column ideas before everyone else and offer something different from newspapers. In time, I came to realize that you didn't need a press pass to write an entertaining column about sports. So thank you, everyone who blackballed me.

Now it's 2006 and I'm wondering if a press pass does any good. Unlike the old days, basketball reporters rarely get extra access anymore -- it's just the same herd of writers hovering around the same people, day after day, writing down the same boring quotes from the same group of bored people who just want them to go away. Unlike the old days, we can watch every minute of every game on TV. We can watch the postgame press conferences. We can watch highlights and sound bites on ESPN. We can argue about the team with other fans on message boards and blogs. By the time most newspaper stories are published, the news always feels a little dated. I'm telling you from experience -- it's possible to follow a professional basketball team without reading the local beat writers now. I do it every day.

It's just a different world.

Yes! Yes! Thank you to everyone who’s ever not given me a chance! Man, the trouble I would have been in if I’d actually been given an opportunity and not have to make one of my own…

Tomorrow….tomorrow I shall be…something I haven’t decided yet. But sleep probably figures into it in a major way.

Outlook: World beating. Just don’t ask my about the novel, my little nublets.