By Scott Westerman July in Michigan represents all that’s appealing about the Great Lakes State. The 7th Month is the zenith of organized Summer activities. As the decade rolled from the 70s to the 80s in Ann Arbor, baseball, swim team, camp and summer band kept us focused and out…
Andy Warhol says that we all get our 15 minutes of fame. You never know when or where it will come. Being a good doggie mom, Colleen and Tanna exercise regularly with a couple of circles around our neighborhood. That’s what was happening when the Google Street Level camera car…
I’ve had the good fortune to give a number of talks about social media lately. Being a beta geek since the days when I got my Internet through a dial-up SLIP connection at Pipeline (coupled with my current gig at Comcast) seems to attract attention. A common question is “When…
By Scott Westerman From the time I first saw Buddy Rich behind a trap set, I wanted to be a drummer. I paid my dues with the required piano lessons, God’s way of weeding out the un-worthy, and even did a year on the trumpet when my Eberwhite band director…
By Scott Westerman In the days before automation, a rite of passage for many a young disk jockey was running the local control board for Paul Harvey News and Comment. My own experience came in 1971 at Ann Arbor’s WPAG. As the agricultural station for southeastern Michigan and northern Ohio,…
By Scott Westerman The big, scary question that confronts anybody who’s lost a job is: What do I do now? If you’ve been paying any attention to the economic news, you’ve probably already developed a Plan-B. How do I live more frugally? How big is my rainy day fund? What’s…
By Scott Westerman One of my favorite exchanges in The Big Lebowski is where Walter comments on Donnie’s strike with the statement “If you will it, it is no dream.” The interaction spirals out of control from there but Theodor Herzl’s quotation is never far from my mind whenever I’m…
Albuquerque, New Mexico at the moment Barack Obama became President of the United States. Brandon at work at the Television station, holding a dictionary open to the definition of the word “change”. The Moment at Blue Cross – Blue Shield of Florida’s Jacksonville, Florida office, witnessed by Shelby and Stephanie.
While some newspapers are combining their content resources, my hero Rob Curley continues to innovate. Here’s what it takes to join his organization. Required: * 4+ years of Web design, preferably for a media company. * Expert knowledge of semantic XHTML and CSS. * 1 year of basic server-side web…
We’re in Jacksonville, Florida with the kids for the holidays. I was joking with a fellow Comcaster that all I really need for happiness is my laptop, Comcast High Speed Internet and Comcast Video On Demand. That’s sure the case this week. Work intrudes, even on vacation for those of…