I'm freaking out

Read this.

So, remember how I said I wasn’t worried about my job in the Star Tribune sale?

I changed my mind yesterday when I found out that when there are layoffs, the company does it by seniority instead of by coverage needs.

There are 300 people on the Star Tribune news staff. I am ahead of exactly three of them in seniority.

It’s more likely that the company would do buyouts, and there would be a line of 100 people wanting to take them. But if it comes to layoffs, I’m outta here.

Crap.

I always knew I was cool

From the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/21/garden/21mess.html?em&ex=1167454800&en=d421169b6ed61ea8&ei=5087%0A

"An anti-anticlutter movement is afoot, one that says yes to mess and urges you to embrace your disorder. Studies are piling up that show that messy desks are the vivid signatures of people with creative, limber minds (who reap higher salaries than those with neat “office landscapes”) and that messy closet owners are probably better parents and nicer and cooler than their tidier counterparts. It’s a movement that confirms what you have known, deep down, all along: really neat people are not avatars of the good life; they are humorless and inflexible prigs, and have way too much time on their hands."

I take one day off ...

I take one day of vacation on Friday, and what do they do over the weekend? They sell the newspaper!

Yesterday, we were given nine minutes notice of an “important all-employee meeting.” They announced that they sold the paper to Avista Capital Partners. Everybody’s response, after thinking “WTF,” was, “who?”

McClatchy is a well-known newspaper company, and they’re known for running their newspapers really really well. We’re one of the few newspapers in the country with too many reporters (not every story even fits in the newspaper every day, it gets kind of ugly).

We’ll be Avista’s first newspaper – their guinea pig. They also own Thompson Publishing, part of MGM Studios and shares in oil companies and health care providers.

I’ve been a journalist for about five years now, and so far I’ve dodged the bullet of being at a newspaper while it gets sold. I guess it’s something I’ll have to get used to, working in a “dying industry.” That’s such a load of crap, though. We have 20 percent profit margins, which most businesses would kill for.

At the all-employee meeting, some of the guys talked about how Avista is “creative” at finding ways to make companies “more efficient.” Gulp. Sounds like job cuts.

But I’m not too worried about my job. Not only am I one of the lowest-paid, youngest employees at the place, but I cover the one growing area of our circulation, the suburbs.

But still. It was weird. It totally came out of nowhere. When McClatchy bought the Star Tribune, they paid $1.2 billion for it, the highest price ever paid for a newspaper. Now they sell it for $550 million, what the crap?

All the notes we got from the McClatchy CEO and people yesterday sound like “Dear John” letters. “We love you, but it’s just not working.”

I feel so betrayed.

New York Times story about the sale
Star Tribune story about the sale
Pioneer Press story about the sale
Wall Street Journal story about the sale

Here's the reaction posted on the Pioneer Press Web site in their "comments" section: (Just a few of my favorites).

"The paper must clean house, and get rid of all the birkenstock, armpit hair radical liberal bra-burners, and put some common sense people on the editorial board and in the pressroom. The star and sickle needs to be put 6 feet under. What a disgrace this liberal rag was and is. No wonder readership is off. There aren't enough birdcages in Minnesota for this laughingstock of a paper to line. "

"I canceled my subscription to the Star Tribune a long time ago simply because of its amazing blatent left leaning political bias. A newspaper should give who, what, why, when and where in its articles not "let's check to see what the state DFL party has to say about this issue". I say good riddens and I hope that Avista cleans up that newspaper. "

"Selling the Trib is really great news. Perhaps the new owners will concentrate on facts and common sense reporting. This is an opportunity to rid the paper of the most biased reporters. I hope they take advantage of the opportunity. "

"Maybe the liberals will get the message that their bias in news artilcles doesn't sell papers".

All the bad spelling is original to the entries. That's my favorite part.

I hate global warming

For the first time in my life, there was Christmas without snow.

I was a little hopeful on Thursday when it rained, then started snowing. There were a few inches by my apartment, but by the time I got up to Duluth that night there was no snow.

I went skiing at Spirit Mountain on Saturday with my Dad, and the conditions were awful.

It was so sad.

I think that Duluth real estate is going to be a hot commodity in 20 years when global warming takes over.

Now, people stay away ‘cause it’s too cold. But the cooler weather will attract lots of people when the rest of the planet is boiling, along with the great lake views and inland location.

The lake might get a little higher, but that’s what levees are for, right?

How facebook ate my birthday

Remember when people used to not remember when it was your birthday? Thanks to Facebook, we now have an electronic reminder (complete with a photo, in case you forgot how you now the person) of when people are going to be getting older.

It's kind of sweet, actually, 'cause on your birthday you hear from dozens and dozens of people via facebook that you never would have heard from before.

And it just adds that much more happiness to your day. Like kitties and ballons and candy.

How nice.

Un petit francais

So, I’ve got good news and bad news.

Really, it’s all good news but one makes me feel torn.

Item #1:

Julie had her baby. I am now a tante. Not an aunt.

He was born on Dec. 5, his name is Noah Simonnet, and he weighs a little over six pounds.

And he’s a citizen of the European Union, which means he could have an easier time finding a job in France than me, even though he’s not even a week old.


So, that’s cool.

Item #2:

My parents might move to Boston.

For those of you who know my dad, you know he’s a doctor in Duluth and he also teaches at the medical school. He went to a two-week conference last month at the Harvard Medical School, to learn about the business side of academic health centers and how to make them more efficient.

Last week they called my Dad and offered him a job teaching at the Harvard Medical School and working as a general internist at Massachusetts General, only the best hospital in the world and the country’s largest research hospital.

My dad’s not snobby at all, so if he accepts it he’ll have to start wearing more bow ties and speaking with an East Coat accent.

He hasn’t decided yet if he’ll take the job. I kind of yelled at him, saying, “Dad, that’s like me getting an offer at the New York Times and saying I would rather work at the Duluth News Tribune.”

He laughed and said, “It’s clearly about more than the job.”

The only reason I’m a little torn is that my parents have lived in Duluth forever and it would be weird to not have a house to go back to there (even though they sold my childhood home two years ago and moved into this suburban development by the mall).

But I think my dad should do it. That would be sweet.

A memo from the editors at work ...

"'Tain't the season to burden readers with weary cliches, so '' 'Tis the season" should not appear anywhere in our pages.

"And "it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" has looked a lot like the second weariest cliche since Dancer, Prancer and Vixen were fawns. Likewise, "Ho Ho Ho" should be eschewed, unless with a story about Don celebrating the holidays.

"Finally, that all-purpose last resort for those who are stuck for a lede, "It's that time of year again," should be consigned to the dust bin of Santa's workshop, and never resurrected for any season."

This is crazy. It's ridiculous that people are upset about this.

http://www.startribune.com/484/story/846590.html

Here's my favorite quote (and by favorite I mean it's totally ridiculous)

"When all elected officials take their oaths of office with their hands on the very same book, they all affirm that some unifying value system underlies American civilization,"(conservative blogger Dennis) Prager wrote. "If Keith Ellison is allowed to change that, he will be doing more damage to the unity of America and to the value system that has formed this country than the terrorists of 9/11. It is hard to believe that this is the legacy most Muslim-Americans want to bequeath to America."

I really don't think he will kill 3,000 people by taking his oath on the Qu'ran.