This is a video response to someone who asked for 5 pet peeves. I thought it was a fun idea and decided to give it a shot.

Hey bloggers! Reporting to you live from home, on my day off. It's a lovely day here in Akron, Ohio.
A little time before my job interview last week, I was mentally preparing myself, and really thinking about why I went into journalism. I figured putting that and my philosophy on journalism itself into words will really help me in my interview and really in my career.

Here's what I came up with.

I really became interested in journalism around my freshman or sophomore year of college. I had in the past been told I am a gifted writer, and I figured journalism would be one of the more practical ways of applying said gift.

After being hired with the Observer-Reporter and working for The BG News (I miss you guys!), I developed a love for community news. The smaller, more local papers take care of their communities, informing and acting as a communication liaison for residents. Not only are we showing communities that they're on the map by covering issues within the community and the things they care about, but we're also bringing community members closer together.

The election, the global warming theory, the economy, the war in Iraq...all these issues and the way the media has covered them hasn't sat well with the conservative side of the political spectrum. Or me, for that matter. See, I try to absorb as much news as I can through a couple of different mediums, and one of them is talk radio. Day in and day out, I hear about the "drive-by media" or how the media has a liberal agenda.

Whether it's true or not, I don't know if I'm qualified to say. That's not the point. Such things should never have to be said about the media. If this is true, we're abusing our power. We need to take criticism of that magnitude very seriously. If this continues without us adressing or stepping it up to bring balance to our news, people aren't going to trust us. It's bad from a business standpoint, it's worse at face value.

If people cannot trust the media, who can they trust?

How do we restore it? In my mind, we need to balance in a couple of different ways. Not just politically, but there also must be a balance between investigative reporting and simple, every day news.  I think we simply need to understand there's a time and a place to expose corruption in the powers that be, but not everything's a scandal. The simple, little everyday stories, if done right and done in a balanced fashion have overlooked value.

People appreciate  the little things. We do it right, they see it, and trust is built. It's as simple as keeping an eye out FOR the people and an ear out TO the people.

-Adam

Hey all. Thanks for being patient; I know my posts are few and far between, but this site's not always been my first priority.

My little get-together with Nikki didn't go as well as I thought. We didn't really click, I guess. I wasn't expecting much, to be honest. Oh well.

I kind of thought The Dark Knight was overrated, too. Really, guys, it isn't the single greatest movie of all time. It was great, but come on.

Oh, I plan to have a vlog up later today/ tomorrow, so look out for that.

Warning: The names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Well, folks, here we are, live from Akron, Ohio. It's a rainy day out, and I'm home alone. My brother's off at college, my sister is at school, and my other sister and my parents are off to Rhode Island. They're dropping off my sister at pastry school. I didn't reallly have any plans because a lot of my friends are either in school, working or too far away for my driving preference. Oh well. I'll have that social life sooner or later!

I have kind of a funny story.

There's this girl who works at another restaurant a few doors down from where I work. We'll call her Alice. She came in, I talked to her briefly, and she ordered food  and kind of started flirting with my co-worker, Momo. Which was understandable; Momo's a good-looking guy with a great personality. The funny thing is he's a little shy around women. I never would have guessed.

So Alice was eating, and Momo kind of convinced make it so he could go on break and talk  to her. So I figured, what the heck, and made it so. They seemed to hit it off really well, and he gave her his Myspace adress and told her to look him up. It isn't my style, really, but whatever works.

A few days later, Alice came in looking for Momo about an hour before I came in. She left a note saying that she couldn't find him on Myspace and gave him her number. The only problem was the note was adressed to me. She'd mixed up our names.

I straightened it out with Momo, but haven't seen Alice since. Hope she isn't too embarrassed!

And here I thought some random girl gave me her number. Can't win them all, I suppose.


-Adam

Hey, internet people. Working in restaruants for about three years now has taught me to look at the world from behind the counter. One of the things that has remained constant is one rule that I've always felt should be enforced: Don't be on your cell phone while ordering.

This has happened at all four restaruant jobs I've ever worked. I can't begin to describe how annoying this is. 

Ok, that's not entirely true. If I couldn't begin to describe it, I wouldn't have started writing this.

For one thing, the guy behind the counter can't tell if the customer is paying attention or not. We could mess up the order and the customer's not going to know it until they have their food, or until they're done talking.

There are plenty of those who can multi-task and talk while ordering, but I've still got issues with that. I mean, really? The call's that important that you can't give me your attention for the all of 30 seconds we'll be interacting? 

All I'm asking is for those of you who eat out, however frequently, is to remember your manners with cell phone use. If you've got a call, what's it going to hurt if tell them you'll call them back, or if you put them on hold? And if it's a very important call, by all means take it, but step away from the counter or something. Be kind, hang up. Or take it somewhere else. Honestly, it'll make life easier for both parties.

 

Oh, emergency calls don't factor into anything I'm saying. Just want to make that clear.

 

-Adam

Hey guys. Sorry  I've been really out of touch with you all lately. I did first of all want to say that Lucky passed away. I believe Jill has donated the medicine and money she was given.

Lucky was a good ol' girl. Never half-hearted anything. She will be missed.

In better news, I have an interview on Thursday for a newspaper up in Sandusky. It's a pretty big one; covering a good majority of Lake Erie's shore. I'm nervous, but I know where I stand in my work, and my views on my industry. I'm confident in that regard, but I tend to get tongue-tied when push comes to shove. It's just a matter of remember all I want to say, doing my best and praying FOR the best.

I also closed on a deal with my car :D . I'll be driving a 2000 Chevy Prizm by the time the week is out!  Cool, eh?

I'll have pictures up soon, I hope.

See ya later, internet people!

-Adam

Hey, bloggity blog friends! I wanted to post another one of my vlogs, this time concerning an acquaintance of mine, Jill, whose dog Lucky has a heart disease. She's accepting donations via PayPal to see a specialist and I imagine for the treatment that follows. The link will be posted below my video box. She can be emailed at xgobobeanx [at]gmail[dot]com, or you can just leave her a message on her YouTube channel! Thanks, everybody!
The video explaining her situation and donation details has been set to private, so I don't think I'll be able to access it, and therefore neither will you. Sorry! However, I found the video where she explains what exactly Lucky's going through. Click here to see that If you are interested in helping her out, though, I encourage you to shoot her a quick e-mail, or even if you just want to voice your support. Tell her Adam sent ya ;) !

God Bless, and rock on!

-Adam

It looks like we made the local paper. Click here to read the article.

-Adam

Hey there, internet people. It's been a little while because I'm working on getting my life in order. Specifically getting a car.

Anyway, first big order of business is I've been informed that as of two days ago the newspaper I wrote for has shut down. My fellow reporters and I are investigating as to what exactly has been going on, and so far the picture isn't pretty. I'll say more once I know more, but all I know is I'm out of the freelance job right now.

However, a few days before I got an e-mail from another, closer local weekly contacted me saying they needed reporters. God closed one door an opened another, apparently. I'll keep you posted.

Oh, yes. And in two weeks my grade school class is having a reunion. It'll be kind of cool, because I haven't seen a good majority of them for about 10 years now. Wow. Has it really been that long? Makes me feel a tad old.

Although I probably shouldn't say that as a majority of my readers are older than myself.

I guess that's all I really have to report for now. Ta ta.

-Adam

My vlog about second chances.