Do the Yak

I didn't watch the show for the first time in probably 30 years. I was just too tired and hadn't seen any of the movies. I feel bad about that, but at least I had my Oscar-night phone call with my cousin in Florida that always starts with both of us singing "Hooray for Hollywood!" at top volume as soon as the callee picks up. For other like me who missed the trivia, I'd point you to Tom the Dancing Bug :

That would be the Hartford Courant, which had a huge layoff last year and just announced another 100 today . Great reader comments on the article -- some insightful, some poignant, some just insane (where do these foaming-at-the-mouth right-wing nuts live, anyway?). Aside from the loonies, some point to the obvious -- free news from sources including the Courant itself online -- but some also note that earlier budget cuts meant the almost total loss of local news, so they'd already lost a lot of reader support. Ironically, many of the local papers in that area have gone down in flames as well, so the market for local news (where it will come from and who will pay for it) is an open question. Anyway, here's a sampling of my favorite reader reactions along with some editorial comments of my own: "Can the public vote on who should go?" Several specific columnists (panty-waist liberals, of course) were requested as layoff targets by other commenters. I can think of some...

For cat-lovers... Working at home at the dining room table during the kids' school vacation... ben is next to me with headphones on, taking an online tutorial in something called Flex. He has a job interview next week, which is good news even if he doesn't get it, since it indicates there ARE some jobs out there somewhere. Last night I drove to Connecticut and back after work in a snowstorm to retrieve my laptop, which I left ta my aunt's house when we all visited on Monday. Also visiting were her son (my cousin), daughter-in-law and their four kids (5, 3, and three-month-old twins -- I'm tired just thinking about it). Thanks to the miracle of Facebook, I've reconnected with the part of the family as well as various college and grad school friends, a significant number of whom have also been laid off recently. While this is scary for those of us affected, it's also somehow comforting knowing we're not alone. It sort of sucks when you're out of work by yo...

Remember how I moaned here about the bleak future of newspapers? Recently I saw this piece in TIME about how newspapers could reinvent themselves financially in the wake of the double whammy of the Internet and the recession. The problem is, of course, that most newspapers' web sites are free, so why pay for 12-hour-old stories on soggy newsprint? And no one wants the expense or hassle of paying per article, even if the actual cost is pennies. Perhaps no one wants to go first in charging a fee, no matter how small and convenient, when just about everything on the web is free and there are zillions of people perfectly willing to provide that content with little or no compensation. Banner ads and popups may make a newspaper's web site itself profitable, but they certainly aren't making enough to subsidize the red ink of the print editions. Newspapers have to pull off something like Apple did with iTunes -- convince people to pay for something online where before they'd ...

As the bad economic news kept washing over us, I felt a vague sense of anxiety (OK, let's put some brakes on spending somehow), but it remained generalized until yesterday, when Ben came out of a "reorg" meeting at his job. Yup, he got laid off. My first reaction was: been there, done that, got the T-shirt -- his multimedia company dying in 2002, both of us looking to escape the South in 2005, his last job in 2007... So between those career -careening episodes, house buying/selling/renting/moving, having babies, etc., etc., we have the life-upheaval thing down pat. My second reaction was controlled panic: "OK, we'll have to sell the house, but please God let's be able to stay local so the kids' lives won't be wrecked, let's just have a quick yet intense look at ZipRealty to see what's on the market in town that's wicked cheap, shall we?" My third reaction was back to #1: we know the drill. Practicalities. Switch to health insurance f...

The sad thing is, I actually coveted one of these, but now I'm far too embarrassed Yes, I now own the Snuggie! Because... I admit it. I asked for it from my stepmother for Christmas/Hanukkah and it just now arrived. And I'm not ashamed. Well, maybe a little (I asked for it before I saw the hilarious video below). I haven't put the Snuggie on my body yet, but you can be sure I won't except in the privacy of my own home with only immediate family within sight. Because you know? I like to be warm on the couch, even if I do look like a retard. Another recent amusement: the " diary " of Joe Torre, former Yankees manager.