Back From The Wilderness...

I have, for some time, been trying to conjure up exactly what I would say when I returned to my blog. I have not posted in about five months, so you would think that I have plenty to say - and I do. It's just that to say it all here and now would be pointless, dated and, no doubt, more than a little self-centered (As if blogging one's thoughts wasn't already self-centered enough!).

I won't bother picking through my navel lint to search for a cause for my long break, either. If I did that, I'd likely never blog again... Therefore, I shall offer a quick recap of life, and then hopefully resume where we left off back in the summertime!

I had a very busy summer, working nearly full time at my various freelance gigs - in fact, for a while there, it almost felt like the good old days when we were truly a two working-parent household. It felt - gasp - normal! The family also enjoyed a 10-day vacation in California and Las Vegas, thanks to my favorite hobby of creative frequent-flyer mile collecting!

Of course, with the economy being what it is, it was fairly inevitable that life would raise its ugly head and kick me in the arse. Early last month, ABC News Radio essentially scrapped its DC bureau, and laid off eight full-time employees. I am still technically an ABC freelancer, but since all the people I used to fill in for no longer have jobs, it's kind of hard to say when or if I'll be getting any more work there. It's a real bummer, too, because I had a lot of work lined up at ABC between now and year's end that is now gone.

But life goes on... I still have my other gigs. I'll be on the air at XM next week, hosting "The Press Pool" on the POTUS channel - Sirius 110, XM 130 - and I have some other stuff lined up at both XM and WMAL next month. I also auditioned yesterday for another freelance gig that could keep me quite busy if I get it... More on THAT later (hopefully)!

Oh - and before I go on - a shout out to my friends on Facebook - you've certainly seen plenty of me these past months, and our daily visits will certainly continue. I think you will find this blog to be somewhat more sober than my flights of fancy on Facebook. I don't "do" unhappy topics over there - except the Redskins, of course!

And now... The Rest of the Story!

Am I Still A Misanthrope?

Here's Susan Boyle's latest performance from "Britain's Got Talent". If I mention that her voice cracked at the opening, does that make me a misanthrope?



Susan beat eight other competitors, including a belly dancer and a Darth Vader inpersonator, to advance to next week's finale. She is the heavy favorite to win the whole thing, and if she does, she gets to perform for the queen.

Blogging Is For Narcissists!

A quick shout out and thanks to a Mr. or Ms. Aquidneck, for his/her response to my blog on Susan Boyle. For those of you who haven't read through the comments, I wanted to highlight this one, and I encourage you to check them all out. I must warn you, though. The more you read my blog, the more you are feeding the narcissistic beast inside of me!



Ah, the joy of the internet, where one can post valid critical comments anonymously.

To be completely accurate, what I was attacking was the last four paragraphs of your post, and in particular, the last sentence describing Susan as "ratty".

Those four paragraphs, in my view, constitute a jaundiced, cynical, and yes, a misanthropic view of the process. You see, that's what called "theater", and it succeeded quite well. The votes are around 20 million to two, by my count, in favor of some very good "theater".

Secondly, a narcissist has, by definition, an "obsessive interest in one's own importance, abiilities, etc." I never accused you of spewing hate, only venom, and your last four paragraphs are indeed venemous.

Thirdly, while we're correcting spelling errors, naivete is spelled with an accented e at the end, not a y.

Lastly, in my 65 years on this planet, I've learned a few things:

1. Don't get into a pissing match with a skunk (of which I'm obviously in danger to succumbing).

2. Anyone who blogs, again from my perspective, falls under the definition of narcissist.

3. In this day and age, anonymity is a good thing.

4. When I hold up the mirror, what I see is a 65 year old with an MS degree in EE/CS from Stanford, a successful VP of Engineering at a few firms, and a 15 year career as an independent consultant. I like and respect the guy I see in the mirror, who has had to hold up several mirrors in his lifetime to demonstrate undesired behavior on the part of his subordinates, superiors and clients.

With that, I'll sign off on this particular site. I have far better things to do with my remaining time on this planet than hold up mirrors to misguided misanthropes...

Thank You, Loyal Readers!

Eleven months ago - freshly unemployed, creatively unfulfilled and in need of something to get me out of bed in the morning, I launched this blog! It hardly seems possible now, but nearly 400 blog postings later, the ol' hit counter flipped to the fifth digit on this President's Day... Which means if I had a dollar for every time someone stopped by here to read my daily rants, I'd have a picture of President Eisenhower - and 10,000 extra dollars in the bank!

I'd like to thank my good friend, Jen Richer for leading me to this place last March. She was the first person to convince me that my non-sensical ravings, snarky remarks and sarcastic rants belonged in cyberspace for all the world (or a couple of dozen tolerant friends) to see!

And thank you all for stopping here to supplement your office solitaire and facebook-surfing with a couple of minutes of my minutia a day! Here's to the next 10-thousand hits!

In A Blog Fog

I know many people who blog. Some do it as part of their job. Some do it to vent their own political viewpoints. Some do it as a form of artistic expression.

I have friends who don't think anyone reads their blog. They blog simply to amuse themselves. I don't think that way. I've been a broadcaster since I was 13 years old. I publish in hopes that people will read it! And people won't read my blog if I don't give them something to read!

We've all been there... You start to read a blog with some semblance of regularity, then the blogger starts to post less frequently, and soon, you just forget to go back, and pretty soon, the blog's url falls right off of your radar screen, and you can't remember what it was called any more!

So, I live in semi-fear that if I let more than a day or two go between blog entries, I'm going to start to lose my audience. That's a problem when my idea tank starts to run a little low, and I can't find any filler material that's clever enough to bridge the gap between "real" blog entries.

I don't want to post any more Obama entries because I never wanted a political blog to begin with, and if I post any more entries about "Facebook", you all are going to want to send some cult intervention experts to my house. I've already blogged about all of my favorite TV shows, and I've been too busy working to write about about being unemployed (although I still am).

You know all about my brilliant son, Brad and my nagging wife, Robin. I could tell you more about younger son Spencer, who turned 11 yesterday (Happy Birthday, Spence!), but Spencer's main interests are Lego Bionicle and Webkins. Not much there for an adult reading audeince. But at least now I've told you about Spencer!

I would imagine this is akin to being a newspaper columnist. You have so many column inches to write, but you have no idea what you're going to say, and you have a deadline fast approaching.

So you dig down deep, pull something out of your ass and get the job done!

Like I just did.

Shoutouts From The Beach!

You never know who's reading your stuff online, and it's surprising to find out on occasion that some of your readers are complete strangers!

Our friends, the Wykoffs, were over at our house the other night, and the better half, Wendy, told me within the course of one sentence, that she hates blogs (Thanks, Wendy!), and that her friend, Lisa, is a "Life On The Beach" regular! This is pretty interesting, because Wendy's husband, Scott, is a daily blogger at WBAL Radio. Wendy says she never reads his blog... and I guess it's a marital thing because my wife never reads my blog, either!

In any case... Lisa - thanks for reading! You probably know more about me than any stranger on Earth!

I also receive comments from time to time on my blog entries from readers who I may or may not know... These are people who use aliases, and I have no idea how they found my blog! So, "ecrunner", "myronblock", "Daffernia" and "James", among others, thanks for taking the time for reading my blather from the beach!

Some of you people may enjoy what you read - others may think I'm full of sh**. Don't worry about offending me, because no one knows better than me how full of sh** I am!

Becoming a blogger has been, by far, the best byproduct of losing my job last year. It has given me a reason to keep my nose in the news and to get up in the morning... and as someone whose career has been devoted to keeping an audience, it's been nice to develop an audience of my own.

I know other bloggers who write purely for themselves, and I can understand that catharsis... But I have an ego to be fed and rants to be made! And I appreciate the fact that you lend me your ears - or rather, your EYES - on a semi-regular basis! Thank you!