NY Post

To see my NY Post story, click here:

http://www.nypost.com/business/31405.htm

You may notice that ther'e a TYPO in the headline! That's not my fault - someone else wrote it -- though I did call the newsroom in hopes of getting the headline fixed. In the print version, there's a headshot of Mr. Ross and it's on their first biz page, so that's good.

Went to church this morning and saw that the Focus group (the 20-30s group at my church) is having a retreat in Pennsylvania this weekend. I sent an email to the guy who is heading it up to see if it's not too late to sign up. I have been so extremely sad about what happened with Chris and his reaction to it -- saying I am a huge disappointment and that I misled him, and that he will not fondly remember our relationship, really has me feeling down. I need to get the hell out of Dodge for awhile and this seems like something that would be better for my heart and soul than drowning my sorrows at a bar all weekend (not to mention more cost-effective). We have a new pastor for the 20/30s group who's supposed to be really awesome and some of my friends at church are raving about him. I haven't met him yet, but this could be a good way to get to know him and some other people. The theme of the retreat is going to be about finding God's will for your life. Hey, I could use some help there, given all the major life changes I've gone through this year and the recurring thoughts I have about moving to Colorado.

So, hopefully there's space left on the trip! I bet I'd get to sleep in a bunk bed. Whee. Who could pass that up?

If you want to read more about my church, Fifth Avenue Presbyterian, you can click here.

Victory!

I turned my story into the NY Post today. I really wanted to do a good job b/c the stories are pretty easy, they pay fast, and while they pay slightly less per word than the glossies, the stories are easy enough that thtey hardly take any time at all (unlike magazine work, which is time consuming).

About 20 minutes after I turned it in, I got a note from the editor, Stephen, who said:

"Woo-hoo!

I haven't finished the story, but you wrote a Post lede. You'd be shocked how many people try to freelance for the paper and either have not read the Post or don't understand the meaning of the word "pithy." Thanks much -- you made my day.

-S"

I think I can count that as a success, and hopefully it will mean more assignments!

Yay.

It'll be online Sunday, since you can't get a copy of hte print version there, except maybe at Barnes & Noble.

Things I'm into now

1) Boursin with pepper. For the love of Pete, people, please think outside of the chemical-orange Kraft singles box. Good cheese can be priced similarly, or even below, processed American cheese and it tastes way better, is more interesting, and goes farther.

2) Ginger ale. I'm trying not to suck it down by the gallon.

3) Jogging through the leaves, listening to kids at recess.

4) Knocking down editor's doors, trying to get assignments. Today I applied for some boring-sounding corporate gig that would probably be steady and pay well. Yahoo. I'm also finishing up my first piece for the Post.

5) Skim milk. I must have a calcium definiciency. I've been drinking it by the gallons.

6) Random musings. Thinking about things like the tendency people have toward distraction, and the people who don't have that tendency, and what the differences are.

flirting with the tabloids.

So! Uncontent with the highfalutin Journal, I am about to take a swan dive into the morass of New York tabloid writing! I've been commissioned by the New York Post (www.nypost.com) to write a business story about (something that is secret, can't let the scoop out!) to be published on Sunday. I think it'll be a lot of fun. They like goofy leads and fun writing, and the topic is pretty cool. Plus, fast cash. Hopefully I can do a good job and get more quickie assignments for them. It's the fourteenth-biggest paper in the country, right behind boston and right ahead of Minneapolis. Pay is less than the glossies but better than a kick in the teeth. Which I would not be able to pay for, as I do not have health insurance!

Two tiny accomplishments

I met a girl who writes for the NY Post on Friday at a housewarming party at Sophie's house and she put me in touch with their business editor, who apparently said he would "love" to hear from me. I sent him an email today but have not heard back.

I also turned in my first column for Registered Rep. today. Will said it was good but maybe he was just trying to be polite. I haven't heard back from the editor if he liked it or not.

So, we'll see.

Two new babies

A day after I found out I am going to BE AN AUNT (congrats, Nick and Heather!), I got a baby of my own.

It came in a bit shy of its due date, much to my happy surprise. Being a premie, it was pretty small -- less than 7 pounds. Unlike most babies, it's a lovely color of silver and has an Apple tattoo on its top.

It's my new Mac PowerBook G5! It's sooooooooo beautiful! I had it up and running in just a few minutes and it is spam and popup-free. Currently I"m at Chris and Dave's working on my blog on a wireless network I picked up from one of the neighbors. New York is so wired I shouldn't ever have a problem finding a connection. Yahoo!

I do need to find a way to finagle a copy of Microsoft Office, but Lacy showed me a p to p sharing site where apparently people post their programs for sharing. I tried Laura's copy but she was already over the limit on registrations. Boo.

Anyway, I love the computer. The keyboard is so comfortable, the screen is so beautiful and clear, and I'm excited to have something that *works* for once! And it's my very own.

I still have the first computer mom and dad bought for me way back in 1993 -- the Mac color classic. These days it looks a bit like a relic but I'm hanging onto it; maybe someday it will be vintage enough to display, like the old black typewriter I keep on the desk in my room for show.

Murphy's Law

So I started getting tickets this week for having an expired inspection sticker. I got one ticket and thought, I better get my inspection done! I'll do it after my deadlines pass. Then the next day, I got *another* ticket for hte same thing -- apparently, they can just keep ticketing you over and over, ad infitum, until you get the inspection done. Already furious, I drove my car to the garage. They said the car couldn't pass inspection because the brakes were bad or something, something about a missing brake pad and a worn down rotor or something. IT's going to cost FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS. That's nealry half of what the car is worth. But, if I keep getting ticketed at this rate, I'd spend that much in tickets in a week. I guess that's why my brake lights started glowing red on my latest trip. I guess it's why my bank account is now prematurely on "empty." Great. It's *always* something.

Sitting in style

I almost forgot -- one of the best perks about working at Money would be I'd get my very own Aeron chair. Oooooh, baby. It would be so much better than this rickety, antique wooden ergonomic nightmare I currently perch on!

Money money money money, MONEY!

As the O'Jays sing before the start of the Apprentice....

So I had my interview at Money magazine yesterday. My friend Jonah recommended me for a job helping fact-check stuff for their February mutual-funds issue. The pay is really pretty good, including overtime (assuming it falls in the higher end of the range they quoted me), and would mean I could afford to buy some Christmas presents. Bonus. Also, they said I'd probably work on other reporting/writing projects while I was there, which means possible bylines -- very good for the resume to add one more magazine name to it. Also, they said if we were mutually happy with each other, they'd be open to freelance submissions from me after the project was over and that they often hire full-time staffers from the pools of people they bring in to work on projects. Rawk. I met with three editors and it seemed to go well with all of them. I'll find out about it next week. The project ends on Dec. 27, but I told them I was going home over Christmas and would be able to be in the office for the final days of the project, though I could be contacted by phone. They said that shouldn't be a problem.

Meanwhile, Registered Rep., the magazine I'm doing the newsletter for (thanks to the help of my friend Will), asked me to write their equities piece for the December issues, which is VERY good. It will be much easier than the newsletter for me to write, and it pays well, too. Hopefully that can become semi-regular gig. In fact, I'd rather keep doing that than the newsletter, which is turning out to be a difficult, time-consuming chore. But I said I'd do it for a few months, so hopefully it will get easier.

Recent developments and JON STEWART SALAD

Greetings. Sorry for the lack of postings, I've been too busy trying to unravel the otherworldly language of new NASD regulations for increased supervisory controls of broker dealers. Ah, the exciting life of a freelancer!

A few quick items. I enjoyed a tasty (if heavy) lunch the other day at Palm with an old source of mine who I used to talk to a lot at the Journal, with whom I have kept in touch. He felt he "owed" me a fancy lunch because a story about him made it from the web site to the paper so he got his picture in there and felt all famous and stuff. I had a wonderful New York strip, a Ceasar salad, creamed spinach (gooey goodness!) and an insanely wonderful piece of cheesecake. Um, I think I need to go jogging.

Speaking of salad...on Tuesday I hit the gym and afterward stopped by a small, pretty nice grocery on 14th and 6th Ave. to pick up some ingredients for a salad. I like to eat big salads for dinner sometimes. So I'm walking around not paying much attention because I have my iPod on. Encumbered by my retardedly oversized gym bag, I try to squeeze by this dude near the fancy schmancy prepared-foods cooler and he's polite, moving aside and saying "sorry." I get up to the register and take my headphones out b/c it's rude to leave them in. Then I hear a familiar voice next to me. I look over and it was the guy from the prepared-foods section -- JON STEWART!!!!!

I have a lot of celebrity sightings in New York (recent ones that come to mind include Adrien Brody in Soho, Nicole Kidman at the gym, Roberto Benigni in Soho, Julianne Moore at the gym) and frankly I don't usually care a whit. But my roommates and I totally heart Jon Stewart and his show is EN FUEGO this year. Democrats and red-staters alike can appreciate his insanely smart humor, skewering politicians and their insane pomposity no matter their party.

So, it was all I could do not to scream, "Oh my gosh, Jon Stewart, my roommates and I totally love you!!!!!" as I openly gaped at him underneath his baseball cap. Then, like a flash, he was gone.

ANYWAY.

So I came home and made my salad, which turned out to be quite delicious. Since I was too chicken/too nice to bug Jon Stewart while he was innocently going about his business and picking up a few items (which I was too busy gaping to notice what they were), I have decided to name the said delicious salad after him.

recipe: The Jon Stewart Salad.

Mix approx. 2 parts baby spinach leaves with 1 part arugula.
Mix/shake a good portion of balsamic vinegar with a splash of a nice olive oil.
Pour dressing on greens and toss.
After putting the greens on two big plates, on the top, add:
Walnut halves, broken in 1/4s
Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
dried cranberries
roasted corn (optional)

It's vinegary, it's cheesey, you've got your protein, your vitamin A, your greens, your veggies and your fruits, which balance out the cheese nicely. The walnuts give it a nice crunch.

Enjoy!

Back to the Mac

After years of using a PC, I've decided to return to my first love, the Mac. Generous benefactors decided to purchase a machine on my behalf so I could actually work instead of running around my apartment trying to find a non-gimpy machine that with all its applications working.

It's silver, it's sleek, it's user-friendly and it's bug-free.

You can see my new baby -- a 15-inch apple Powerbook G4 -- here, or on my desk in a week or so.

Yippee. I can't wait to have a machine that is mine, that works, and that I can take along when -- hopefully - I get assignments.

check, check, check

The last two weeks I"ve spent actually *doing* the projects I was assigned. I rewrote the Modern Bride piece and researched/wrote the Dakotas piece for Backpacker last week. This week I"m making all kinds of calls on the newsletter I'm doing for a financial mag here in the city.

I just ate a bacon sandwich. Sadly, I had no tomatoes. You eat weird crap when you're unemployed and home all day.

Thursday, I'm going in to interview with Money magazine for a project that would be nice, steady money but will also be incredibly boring. But, it would be excellent to have some coin for the holidays so I can both pay rent *and* maybe even buy some presents. I hope I get it. Also, I'd be able to pitch stories while I was there, so I could get some more clips. Otherwise, it'd be just straight monkey work. I suspect it'd be hard to get many freelance assignments right around the holidays b/c editors are just as busy as the rest of us, so this could be a nice way to coast through the end of the year.

Please, hire me to write!

I had lunch today at Tribeca Grill with a PR lady who was pitching me a story idea about an ecolodge in Costa Rica that I might be able to sell. She also told me the names of some people I should contact at Gotham, New York and the Robb Report as far as freelancing goes, so I got in touch with the first two; the second she said she would email herself. Seemed like a productive meeting, and I had a very nice rare tuna salad with asian noodles. Yum. Free food. I likey.

Boring patch

Today I'm meeting up with a PR lady who wants to try to sell me on some of her properties; don't know if I'll get a story idea but I will get a free lunch. Tonight I'm meeting up with the Modern Bride editor to go over what she wants for the Belize piece. I've already written it but I may change it up a bit as per her suggestions.

Beyond that, now I'm just trying to finish up the work I already have instead of looking for new work. I want to get the Backpacker piece turned in and get the Belize piece done and, make headway on my newsletter for Registered Rep. and next week dig up some column that I can write for them about equities. Seems as though my plate is full.

Oh, I talked to an editor at Money magazine, where my friend Jonah works. They are desperate for people to help them on a big mutual funds project. It's basically monkey work but I'd get to pitch articles to them as well. The pay would be good and steady for a month, BUT it would mean that I only got a long weekend for Christmas, as the project runs through Dec. 27. Maybe I'd tell them I could do it but only if I can knock off on Dec. 24. Seems like a dumb time to have a project end. I'm also worried about keeping up my newsletter thing for Registered Rep. if I was working full-time or even overtime somewhere else. Then again, it'd only be for a month and by that point I will probably really need the money, so if they offer it to me, I'll probably take it. It pays 20-25 an hour, and I'd hope that they'd give me in the high range of that.

Regarding the computer, I looked yesterday at some different models. You can't look at Dells in the store so I was looking at HPs but it seems I could get everything I need and that will last for a not-insane price. I'm also going to look into Macs. The new g5s have gotten amazing reviews and they are completely free of spam, bug and spyware problems because those are all formatted for PCs. We'll see.

Playing chicken

Today I realized that what I am doing is playing chicken with my bank account -- seeing who can run faster, me or my money.

In the end, I know that I will lose. Even if I have success with freelance assignments, checks are months in coming and often late. I will have to temp eventually. That's OK. I've still been amazed at the generous response I've gotten from editors. I've had no doors totally slammed in my face. Though, gee, I haven't heard back from Outside yet. :) Big sigh.

Success again!

I met today with the editor of a financial magazine called Registered Rep. that my friend Will writes for. Apparently the editor liked me for some insane reason, and I will be writing a monthly newsletter and hopefully contributing to a monthly story called Equities Watch that would closely resemble what I did in my weekly columns for the Journal. I'd get one large (or a thousand bucks) for each newsletter and the same for each stock story. It's not the kind of stuff I've dreamed of writing, but it would be steady money so thanks, I'll take it! Plus it will allow me to use all those sources I spent so long building up at the Journal. Honestly, I have a lot to learn about the brokerage business. It's totally different from what I covered at the Journal, but hopefully I can parlay it into something useful.

Success in Sodak

I'm writing for Backpacker about the Dakotas -- for acutal cashola! Unfortunately I don't get to travel there but I get to do a lot of research on the phone and online. Not as good but still a foot in the door at Rodale, which has plenty of nice health publications, including Men's Health. A buck a word. Wahoo.