Blogging about bloggers...
A few months ago I wrote about a
Charleston Bloggers meetup I tried to attend at the West Ashley Barnes & Noble.
No problem finding the large bookstore.
The manager walked me over to a corner of the store - by the DVDs and CDs - and I saw folded chairs stacked.
I sat and waited for the others to arrive. One other person showed up a few minutes later.
We chatted as we waited and even sent some emails asking where were the rest of the group.
Well, after an hour she and I left.
We later discovered the group had been in session at the store - but in the coffee area with wall plugs for laptops. Duh.
The manager had lead us astray.
The next month I found 5-6 others gathered and we had some nice conversations about Web Logs.
(We
b Logs...get it?)
Last night I went again and saw some familiar faces and a few new ones.
J. Mark Diaz, the moderator, and I had missed meeting before and he explained that the original founder - a very busy lawyer - had asked him to take over the leadership as the Coordinator.
I mentioned there had been a large group of Bloggers organized locally years ago when this part of the web was still very new. The Post and Courier had semi-recognized us as a group and we were featured in a column that ran for about a year.
One of those early bloggers,
Geoff Marshall, was from England and he had taken an extensive cross-country drive before he returned to London.
Geoff had already been to Hawaii and Alaska, so his blog postings included his good and bad adventures in the "lower 48."
One stop was at Mt. Rushmore and he posed - as thousands do each year - with his face on the far right.
I converted it to black & white and embellished his features to have a more granite look.
Unlike the Queen Victoria saying, he "WAS amused."
Glad to be part of this newer incarnation of bloggers and wannabes.
Hope they all achieve what they attempt on the internet.
I sure have!
(Click on the photos for more detail.)
Thanks for stopping by. Stay and have a coffee.
Labels: B&N, blurred background, bookstore manager, Charleston Bloggers, Geoff Marshall, Mark Diaz, Starbucks, The Post and Courier, Topaz plug-ins
Here's a Tip: 'Tis The Merry Season!
It's that time of year when the postal service works twice as hard.
Catalogs keep on coming.
Your mailbox is stuffed with holiday sales cheer. Over stuffed.
The refuse collector truck slows down and they take a little longer to pick up your trash... just in case you want to come out and thank them.
(When my Dad used to put out extra large piles of scraps from his shop, he'd place a cold 6-pack of Pepsi on top. Especially on hot humid days.)
It's really not fair. The mailman can't just leave a holiday note to remind me how good they have been in bringing things to me.
Nor the trash man suggesting that a monetary remuneration would be appreciated for the fine job they do hauling away things from me.
The real winner is the fellow (lady?) who places my daily newspaper literally at my door.
I'm usually not awake when the delivery person makes his/her rounds.
Every morning though, when I open the door, there it is.
If it's rainy and damp out, the paper is
double bagged to keep it fresh for me to spread out on my kitchen table.
This morning, inside the bag with the news, was a
Merry Christmas card in a blank white envelope.
The card was stamped with a name and a mailing address. Pretty slick!
You'd think the Postal Service would have thought of that as a logical way to let me easily reward my mail carrier.
I'll figure it out.
Also on Trash Day.
(Click on the photos for more details.)
Remember, Tipping is NOT a city in China.
Labels: Christmas card, front porch delivery, newspaper carrier, the mailman, The Post and Courier, trash day, USPS
New Blog Created For the 134 Gang....
When I retired from The Post and Courier newspaper in 2004, I was invited to join the
P&C Retirees Group.
I did become a member.
It's been fun to meet quarterly (Jan/Apr/July/Oct) on the last Friday for lunch and BS sessions.
I must have missed a meeting a few years back.
Now I am the one who makes the lunch plans and sends out the meeting notices.
Memo to self: Don't miss meetings.
My first quarter or two we met at Ryan's in West Ashley.
Then, for about 5-6 years, at the grille next to the Shrine Club on Patriot's Point.
Last year that grille closed and we moved up Highway 17 to the Liberty Taproom and Grille.
Every three months I would prepare to announce the upcoming meeting.
I have learned to NOT mail the postcard until the evening of the Friday before. I forgot once a few showed up a week early.
A Friday is a Friday when you're retired.
About 60 postcards go out and 20 notices are emailed electronically.
I have watched postage climb over the years.
Wish everyone had access to computers with the joy - and ease - of email.
MUCH easier for me.
At the Liberty, the General Manager Michael Ball and our server T.J., arranged the tables the way I requested.
We have had as many as 25 show up for a quarterly lunch and as few as 7.
Retired people don't bother with RSVP so every time attendance is a surprise.
This time there were 15 of us and a few new faces were in the crowd.
One of the newcomers suggested we post some pictures of the group so other members would see what they were missing.
Not a bad idea.
I had my camera - of course - and was taking pictures.
When I got home I created a new blog for the
Retirees Group. Click on the link if you want to see more.
Because the newspaper was at 134 Meeting Street for many decades, when the new plant opened further uptown, it was numbered as 134 Columbus Street.
I proposed changing the name of the retirees group to the
134 Gang and it was approved.
We actually could sing "
Hail, hail, the gang's all here" if everyone showed up.
(Click on the photos for more details.)
Yes, you noticed the dreaded fisheye lens followed me to the meeting.
They were impressed.
Well, that's what they said to my face.
Thanks for stopping by.
Labels: fisheye lens effect, GM Michael Ball, Liberty Tap Room and Grill, postcard postage rates, retirees group, Ryan's, T.J., the 134 Gang, The Post and Courier
That Old Gang Of Mine .......
I belong to two "gangs."
One is the
919 GANG in San Diego - about 350 people who used to work at the
Union-Tribune newspaper in that seaside community.
I was a staff photographer with the papers in the 1960s.
We submit memory items (
"What ever happened to so and so?") or
"Do you remember when ___ happened?"A daily newsletter is compiled and e-mailed to all the gang members.
The other is the
134 GANG composed of retirees from the old Charleston
News and Courier and the
Evening Post. Members also come from the current Post and Courier.
This is a much smaller group - about 75 - and we meet quarterly for a luncheon.
Members of the gang will gather, tell some stories and enjoy a nice meal and social time.
The local Gang will band together this Friday.
Both gangs - named for the address where the newspapers were published - are growing larger as the industry shrinks. Veteran newsmen face layoffs, take early retirement, accept buyouts or go into new pursuits.
I was surprised to learn The Post and Courier was able to keep its same number address from Meeting street when it opened the new plant on Columbus Street.
At least some things don't change.
Labels: 134 Gang, 919 Gang, Evening Post, News and Courier, The Post and Courier
