Bet You Already Knew This

With that out of the way, a brief update:

• I finished my graduate project. 7,500 words on sustainable energy and the economic recovery. I'll post it with the new site that will replace this blog.
• I'm scheduled to move all of my possessions to downtown Hartford at the end of the month. Now that I'm no longer a student after May 10, I'll spend a lot more time doing things like traveling, pimping, you know, the basics.
• I'm getting the music bug again (not to be confused with Swine Flu). I'm still rusty as sin at the trumpet, but I got it cleaned and fixed at Joe Riffs in Middletown (nice work for a great price, btw). Now that I'm free, I'm down for just about any musical endeavor that may come my way.

Happy Early Birthday Mom and Aunt Michele (May 4-they're twins). And away I go.

It's Been Such A Long Time...

...I think I should be posting.

More often, that is. Actually, my plan is to find any free hosting that I can and redirect my URLs to that. I'm going to brand myself with a one-stop Michael Grillo hub, complete with credentials, clips and the works. Don't hold your breath: the next few months will be busy for sure.

This month, I'm wrapping up my formal education with my Master's project for Quinnipiac. I'm offering a glimpse at the sustainable energy industry's successes and pitfalls in the midst of the global recession. I've toured the Connecticut Global Fuel Cell Center at UConn and witnessed the installation of a geothermal well system in Fairfield, and there's a bunch of other journalistic juicy bits on the way as well.

Next month, I will graduate, then I will pack up my meager belongings in my hot car and move 30 minutes north to Hartford. Don't know where in Hartford yet, but I'm trying to snag a one-bedroom on the 7th floor overlooking Main Street.

And the shameless plug for my professional work...

Are you depressed over the UConn Men's loss to MSU last night in the Final Four? Too bad! Drown your sorrows at courant.com/huskies with last night's recap, game photos, box score and the world's most comprehensive UConn sports coverage. courant.com/huskies: it's a Web site. Online.

Yes Mom, I'm Still Alive

Now that I have real food in the apartment, I tried my hand at a chicken/noodle stir fry Wednesday night. The results were as beautiful as they were delicious (very).

I began to fill out the cabinets and the fridge with the essentials, like shredded Parmesan cheese, green apple soda and banana pepper slices from Quiznos.



















Also, I forgot to mention I have a balcony with a partial view of a baseball diamond and a full view of the public works facility.

Thomas Street, Middletown, CT

It's been a week in my new place, and I almost have everything assembled and put away. It's a bit spacious, so I'll gradually fill in the empty areas with anything I can find on the street or Craigslist. Here's the grand tour, including "before and after" shots:

Living Room:


Kitchen:


Bathroom:


Bedroom:

I control my name

As of yesterday, I am the owner of michaelgrillo.com, michaelgrillo.net, michaelgrillo.org and michaelgrillo.info. It's a small investment--about $30 a year--but reliable sources at seanhenri.com tell me that this will go a long way in protecting my online identity.

There are many Michael Grillos in this crazy world of ours: some are professors, others are directors and producers, and there are at least 30 of us on Facebook actively or passively flouting the fact that we are Italian. But only one Michael Grillo--THIS Michael Grillo--is Web-savvy enough to take control of his name--nay, his IDENTITY--and prevent other Michael Grillos from having their name as a URL.

God, I love myself.

As you may have seen, the URL merely redirects to this blog. I did not yet wish to take the plunge and pay $4 per month for hosting privileges on 1and1.com, the domain name site I used. Expect big things in the future, though: don't forget, there's only ONE Michael Grillo, and you're looking at him.

Where I've Been, and Where I'm Going

The simple answers here are "work," and "bed."

Well, it feels like weeks since I've posted, but I want to get into the habit for the sake of a possible writing career. Here's a recap of the last few months, in bullet-point form:

• Finished semester 1 at Quinnipiac (4.0 of course, due to my inner nerd)
• Became single again (which explains the extra blogging time I now have)
• Started semester 2 at Quinnipiac

Oh, and I am now transmitting from my new HP desktop, powered by Vista, so that's cool I guess. Vista is like the shiftless opportunist that dresses very similar to Macintosh's Leopard and steals his ideas. I use a series of desktop widgets on the right side of my screen, but they constantly tell me that it is cold and my Naugatuck Valley S&L stock is underachieving.

Speaking of underachieving, this blog will receive some more attention, but I don't have the energy to generate any considerable traffic here.

But wait there's more: I finally posted an article, made with my own two hands. The previous post is an assignment for one of my graduate classes: it falls under the "microcosm profile" category, meaning it explains a larger trend through the experiences of an individual. The individual here is Max, and he makes beer. Good beer, too.

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.