They saw it coming almost 30 years ago

This is why the news industry is dying:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WCTn4FljUQ

It's kind of like my dad said when I was little, "I guess the Internet thing might catch on." It did, which is why I haven't gotten a bonus, why people aren't getting raises and why some people are being laid off.

Well, that, and the fact that we're in a recession. :(

Highly unexpected recognition

So I won an award. Me. I don't win things. Ever.

I didn't think I was going to win this time, either!

The South Carolina Press Association gives out awards every year for different categories, including page design. Both newspapers I work for (The Island Packet — islandpacket.com — and The Beaufort Gazette — beaufortgazette.com) submit entries in various categories each year.

I entered pages in three categories for each paper: Page One Design, Feature Page Design, and Page Design. For Page One Design, you pick three of your best front pages to submit. For Feature Page Design, you pick three of your favorite feature fronts. But for Page Design, you can pick any single page you've ever done.

So the copy desk gathered all of their submissions and turned them in to the editors for each paper. The editors then chose a certain number of entries to submit for the contest. The papers didn't have enough money to submit everything — each entry costs $8 or something like that.

Anyway, the Packet didn't submit anything I did. The Gazette only submitted my Page One Design, which was, by far, my weakest category. So, I assumed I wasn't going to win anything. It was really unfortunate that so many of the copy editors didn't have any of their entries chosen for the contest. Our desk has some really really talented designers. I guess I kind of felt like I was in the same boat they were considering my worst work was submitted. I just knew there was no way I was going to win anything, so I kind of took the approach that nothing I had done was entered.

Much to my surprise, I won third place for my Gazette Page One Design. I only remember two of the pages that I submitted, but here they are! If you click on them, you can see them much better.

I heard the SCPA was cutting back on their costs, so I hope they're still giving out plaques like they have in the past. It'd be nice to hang mine up next to David's award!

I feel really badly having won, knowing that so many other deserving people from our copy desk should have won something, too. It's hard to be as excited about my finish when they didn't get a chance. I guess that's the bad thing about contests like this — they really are quite subjective. But our copy desk is fabulous, and I'm so proud of all the work they do. I really am in the midst of great designers every day at work.

A much-anticipated visit

I found out last night that Nicole is coming this weekend. I'm SO excited.


(This picture was taken in 2007 on our way up to North Carolina to celebrate my 23rd birthday.)

We haven't been able to spend an awful lot of time together in quite a while. She went to Missouri for Christmas to visit her parents and then went to Hong Kong to visit her brother and sister-in-law. Her nephew was really sick, so she went over there to lend support and to help them take care of their daughter. But praise the Lord that Caedmon has fully recovered!

Anyway, with me living 4 and 1/2 hours away, it's really difficult to get a lot of quality time with her. When I see her in Raleigh, it's usually only for a few hours since I also want to spend time with my family and David.

But I'm beyond excited that she's coming down for an entire weekend! YAY! Let the good times roll. We don't really have any plans, but that doesn't matter. :)

The Reader should wear more clothes

I just went to the theater and saw "The Reader." It stars Kate Winslett as Hanna Schmitz and Ralph Fiennes as Michael Berg. Although, I'm fairly certain you see more screen time of young Michael Berg (played by David Kross) trotting around Hanna's house naked than you do of Ralph Fiennes.

If you have yet to see the movie and eventually want to see it, then there might be some spoilers below — just a warning! :)

I'm not a fan of nudity in movies, but some movies don't bother me quite as much with a tad bit of it in there.

This film, however, seemed to use about a third to a half of it's time as "nakee time." I'm sorry, but I do not want to see Winslett's chest 4,890,365 times; nor do I want to see Kross' naked form from the front. Ew. I realize that the two of them were having an affair and he read to her while they were lying in bed. But it doesn't mean they needed to have that much nakedness in there. There are ways to shoot films where you know they're naked, but you just don't show it.

I'm not trying to be a prude, I'm just saying it's unnecessary. Take, for example, "Forgetting Sarah Marshall." I went to go see this movie with Casey, and she and I both agreed we likely would have enjoyed the movie much more if the nudity and sex scenes hadn't been so graphic. It's just not needed.

Aside from the g raphic parts of this movie, I suppose it was OK. It's one of those come-full-circle-spanning-characters'-lifetimes type of movie. It was sad, though, and we all know that I'm not a huge fan of the movies with sad endings. It's not to say I can't appreciate them, because I do. It wasn't an awful movie, though, and I don't regret going to see it.

Overdraft "protection"

Does anyone else's bank charge them for overdraft protection?

I realize this is the first post I've officially made here, so it's not a thrilling topic. But I'm upset, and I needed to vent.

I didn't transfer money from my savings account last week because I knew my paycheck would go into my account Friday. I also knew that some of the purchases I made wouldn't be deducted from my account until after my paycheck went through.

But apparently, Wachovia freaked out that I would have "insufficient funds" in my checking account and transferred just enough money from savings to checking to cover the negative balance.

I theory, this is a good thing. However, they also charged me $10 to do this.

So, I'm looking at my account today, and I had like $200 something in there. But they transferred $22 over from savings because I had "insufficient funds." I'm not a math whiz, not by a long shot, but I am well-aware that $200 covers at least $22.

I called the bank since I'm now out $10. The woman, of course, tried to explain to me why they did it. I told her I understood what she was saying, but that I didn't actually have insufficient funds, so I wanted her to credit me the $10.  

She, again, tried to tell me why. I told her I wasn't really interested in their "why" anymore because it wasn't relevant since I had the money in there. She was courteous, as I was trying to be, but I realized she clearly was not going to credit my account.

So I'm out $10. I'm well aware that in the grand scheme of things, $10 is not a lot of money. But it's at least a whole meal and 1/2 at Wendy's or a small pizza from Papa John's. Or it's even a couple of groceries!

Banks stink. I think I'm going to pull my money out and tape it behind my toilet tank.