The Wormlips Scrapbook

NewsTools 08

Wow — I wonder who came up with the idea of kicking off a conference with a moment of silent mindfulness. Asked to contemplate our reasons for attending Journalism That Matters, I was startled to discover that I had none. So it turned out to be a fruitful exercise, as I figured out what I was doing there.

I’ve also never been to a conference where people were so friendly. It made that whole networking thing, which is always excruciating for me, so much easier. Highlights: meeting two of Maria’s Guatemalan journalist friends, running into Ellin, and having time to yack with our DNA Files programmer, Stephen.

The events of the day were widely documented. Just about everyone toted a laptop, and everywhere I looked there were cameras aimed hither and thither. I joined the fun.

Postscript.

El Rancho

I spent two exceptionally relaxing nights at The Rancho, which Lulu says is one of her two favorite places in California (the other being Anza Borrego). Here’s another contest for you. Open up these two photos side by side and find the differences (there are seven of them):

If you guess them all, you really do deserve a prize. Often in life, I’ve found, we don’t get what we deserve. After you post your guesses here, I’ll e-mail you the answers.

I’m tired. After leaving The Rancho I got to see Lulu for a few hours. She was unhappy with me because I fell asleep on her dorm bed while she played on the computer. Then I went to dance class in Sac’to and learned a new two-hand reel. Goodnight.

On my next post I’ll tell you about the journalism & technology conference I attended today in Silicon Valley. For now, there are more pressing matters.

Here is a contest for you. Please match the dog to its owner (or, as Kathy McAnally would have said, “match the dog to its human.”)

Winner might win something. Maybe chocolate. We’ll see. Submit your responses in the… well… responses section, just below these pictures.

[A couple of you have been confused by the anti-spam thing. Under the comments area is a red box into which you'll need to type the two words shown there, and then click "submit comment"; otherwise, your answer will never see the light of day.]

Though a new camera is the last thing I can afford after my trip, I just replaced the one that I drowned in the Rio Claro on the Oso Peninsula in Costa Rica and the one that split in two when I threw it into the lancha at Lago de Atitlán in Guatemala.

Would you like to see what I got? I broke with conventional wisdom (Nikon or Canon for a DSLR, and Lumix or Sony for point-and-shoot). Instead, on the advice of Wired Magazine, I got an Olympus (which was my dad’s favorite breed, and it’s water-resistant) and a Casio, of all things. Both of them were massively on sale.

This means you’ll start to see pictures here again soon, if anything interests me.

 Loading ...