Keeping the skills fresh/CT State Police

It's almost November, near the end of the semester, and life seems to be moving pretty quick. In the next month, I have to complete an in-depth article on something related to Cheshire, obtain some detailed election information from the town and try to find some paying media gigs (other than the lighting business). All this while trying to elude the local 5-0.

Cheshire has been a pain this week: for starters, my potential article on a Cheshire cafe fell through because the business owner I tried to interview flaked out at the last minute. Then, my efforts to obtain detailed voting records (see: PUBLIC INFORMATION) were derailed by an angry town official. Her words: "I'm not going to accommodate any personal requests."

This is a bold statement, considering she is a servant of the public and is obliged to give me that information. I know she probably has a right to be ornery because Election Day is coming up soon, but this woman was everything a public servant shouldn't be.

Shucks. Call me old-fashioned.

ATTENTION ALL DRIVERS ON CT ROUTE 8 NEAR TORRINGTON. There are cops on the prowl for excessive speeding, and they apparently have something to prove.

I was approaching the city at a pace slightly over 80 miles per hour when I saw a car on the shoulder with its lights off. As I expected, it was a Connecticut State Police Officer, and he closed in on me pretty fast.

He clearly wasn't happy to see me when he approached my car. He must have been in his mid-twenties, around my age, and he must have thought he pulled over Pablo Escobar because of the questions he had for me.

After spending a few minutes drilling me with questions such as, "Do you have any alcohol in the car," and "do you have any guns," and "do you have any marijuana," and "do you have any knives?" He asked twice if I had knives, and I couldn't tell you why he did.

(For anyone who knows me, I am a timid, law-abiding white guy. I am a cat person and I enjoy a cup of green tea when I relax. I couldn't pose a threat to schoolchildren, even if I HAD weapons in my possession)

So he wrote me up for going 80, though he said he clocked me at 82: he said he wanted to save me a few dollars. Gee, thank you officer. A $254 ticket is so much better than anything else you could have thrown at me.

So in the end, I got verbally assaulted by some punk cop who handed me an excessive financial penalty for driving fast on an empty stretch of highway, a minor infraction at best and hardly failing of any moral code.

Let me show my gratitude to the Connecticut State Police: thank you for keeping reckless criminals like me in check, and ask me for suggestions as to where you should shove any future infractions.

My latest investment

I'll let the pictures do the talking today:

Hey

Hey.

This blog will likely contain original reporting and observations on journalism, real life and my own life. However, don't think that this particular corner of the web is dedicated solely to the common good or the goal of enlightening the public with informative, ethical journalism. Those certainly are my goals, but here's the most important thing to remember (and I'm being completely honest):

I made this blog for myself.

I'll be more than happy if anyone reads this, but this is mainly a vehicle for my fledgling career. As long as I'm temporarily out of print (or as long as local weeklies decline to answer my offers to give them free articles), I'll serve as my own editor and publisher. It's free, and it strokes my ego in the most sensual way.

One of my main focuses here will be the realm of online media. Not so much the hey-let's-put-our-print-articles-online-for-free online media, but other things that are much more innovative. If anyone in or outside of journalism has any thoughts whatsoever on the matter, please post a comment: perhaps I'll look into it and develop a few posts from any related ideas.

I strongly believe in three things: one, that someone (hopefully me) will pioneer a new way to distribute news in the near-future involving the internet; that traditional journalists have nearly ruined any feasible chance of charging for their intellectual property by offering articles online for free; and that the next wave of online journalism needs to rely on a solid business model that will make the industry more profitable so it can avoid burning out its talent through current newsroom cuts.

Well, that's my two cents so far. I hope, for the sake of my journalistic aspirations and any readership I may gather here, that many, many quality posts will follow tonight's initial address.

And I'll post some pictures of my new auto when I get the chance.