The Daily Journal has launched a 5-minute newscast on its Web site.
It has been interesting to be a part of this on many levels. As a member of the newsroom, the Web editor and as a member of the News@Noon team.
Having a love affair for weather, I volunteered to do a short weather forecast. Not a problem to take a few minutes each day to whip up the 30-second spot.
That was my thinking until my boss, Managing Editor Susy Schultz, suggested we use our cat.
Smokey is quite the character. I wrote about him in a recent column. He was a stray. He is neutered and his front paws had been declawed. But he has a great vertical jump, loves to play catch the ball and loves to chatter.
Because of his character, the boss said he would be a great addition to the weather forecast.
“You are joking,” I said.
No. Susy said this would be a great thing.
People love to read about children and animals. I was told that after seeing more then 400 click throughs on our Web site for the Smokey column.
Needless to say, it has been an eventful couple of weeks.
I brought the Smoke Man to work one day to practice a video shot. He really tore it up. I was holding Smokey and he got spooked while we were shooting outdoors. He tried to climb over me to get away. I was holding on to him for dear life. You do that when your future meal ticket is trying to skip out.
Trying to save him meant getting clawed on my arms as well as chest and stomach. It also meant the shirt I was wearing had some tears in it.
The videographer was not taping at the time so there is no record of the incident.
However, Smokey made up for it in our first official taping. He tried to squirm away and ended up smacking he a couple of times.
Each taping with him is an event. And my co-workers love when he pays a visit to the office. He is getting use to the place. Maybe that is not a good sign. He has been looking at my workstation. He’s probably measuring it up for when he takes over.
I was told Smokey is my ticket to the show.
We shall see. Is it a fun one or a slasher event?
My wife, Dawn, and I adopted a stray cat last August. Smokey is a male, neutered cat, who has no front claws. He is quite the character. Maybe you caught a glimpse of him on The Daily Journal’s News@Noon Web newscast.
I thought it would be interesting to come up with a list of reasons your cat is smarter than you:
10. Makes you clean the litter box.
9. Annoys you so much at 3 a.m. that you get up and feed them on a regular basis.
8. He knows he has eight more lives than you. Why not annoy the heck out of you.
7. While playing fetch, cat will make you go get the ball.
6. Allows you to speak for him. Usually they like to have six different character voices to fit their mood.
5. Jumps in the big recliner in the living room and takes a 2-hour nap while you bemoan the fact. Don’t we realize we can toss them out. No. The wife, girlfriend, significant other will remind us of that.
4. You allow them to help pick your attire for the work day.
3. Has you make cute cards off an Internet site that caters to pet owners.
2. You allow them to help pick your attire for the work day.
1. You let your boss talk you into using him as a part of a newscast your newspaper is producing for its Web site. Your co-workers and even the company’s vice president for finance love him. Your life is never the same.
There is exciting news coming from outer space.
Astronaut Mike Massimino is “tweeting.”
Massimino is part of the Space Shuttle Atlantis crew currently working on repairing the Hubble Space Telescope. Besides that, Massimino is keeping people posted of the crew’s mission by filing reports on Twitter (twitter.com).
Twitter is the current hot social networking tool. That can be seen in the more than 273,000 “tweeters” following Massimo. I have a Twitter page (twitter.com/bontyful). There are 21 people following me. So I know the pressure Massimino is under.
What makes Twitter unique is “tweeters” are limited to 140 characters, which includes spaces, with each post or tweet.
That isn’t a problem right now for Massimino, whose Twitter name is Astro_Mike. Instead, he is busy with the mission. He is overseeing the first of five spacewalks to update the aging telescope.
He sends his posts to Mission Control in Houston and then they are posted by NASA, according to a report from SPACE.com.
Massimino’s tweeting gives new meaning to Twitter’s motto, “What are you doing?”
It really is way out there.
I have been active in Facebook for the past three months.
Being Web/Wire editor, it became necessary to maintain a Facebook page. I also have a Twitter account (twitter.com/bontyful). Plus, I can text on my mobile phone. I have become more aware of social networking and how it can help me in my line of work.
With my Facebook page, I have been reconnected with high school classmates I have not talked to since graduating 30 years ago this month. It is great to catch up with them.
Evan Hill, a co-worker, said that Facebook is more like a high school reunion than the recent television show.
Is Facebook, or another social network site, going to make gatherings such as high school reunions a thing of the past for the younger generations.
Maybe so.
My high school class held 10th and 20th reunions but nothing has been mentioned about one for a 30th.
I feel it is one of two things. The same people who planned the first two reunions are tired of carrying the load, which they shouldn’t have to. Or Facebook is making it easier to stay in touch or reconnect with friends, both old and new.
What is your take on this?
Greetings.
I’m Jeff Bonty. I am the Web/Wire editor for The Daily Journal in Kankakee, Ill.
I also write a weekly column that appears in the Tuesday edition. This blog will be a continuation of the column but on a daily basis.
What is this blog about? It could be about what is on my mind that day, or it could be about something going here or elsewhere in the world. I might even throw in a Top 10 list every now and then. I am a big fan of David Letterman, a fellow native of Indiana.
Hopefully, as time goes on, these posts will make you laugh, think, ponder or just want to comment about something.
I may even throw a question or two out there for you to answer. You never know. You might end up being quoted in a future column.
You can also follow me on Twitter (twitter.com/bontyful). I also can be found on Facebook.
Not a day goes by without something intriguing me. Today it is why gasoline prices go up on Monday of all days. It is the beginning of the work week. I can absorb it easier on Tuesday.
So, let’s have some fun.
