I have discovered that a couple of different people in Upstate media have compiled many local and regional blogs onto two different sites. Journalist and blogger Steve Shanafelt, founder of Spartanburg Spark (http://www.spartanburgspark.com/, soon to be a newspaper), compiles many Spartanburg area bloggers on his site Sparkle City Blogs (http://www.sparklecityblogs.com/). Mr. Shanafelt holds monthly meetings at downtown locales such as Interlude coffee shop and Monsoon Noodle House. I have yet to go to one, but it seems to be a great way for us to get to know each other. Shanafelt has also been having an election this week for who the best blogger is in different categories (funniest, most insightful, best design). Steve has a weekly blog report where he compiles different blogs and turns them into news stories; he also has Spartanburg videos of the week, where he showcases many of our fine filmmakers and videographers. Video stories range from news stories (one of his stories comes from WSPA-NewsChannel 7's Jonathan Carlson) to professionally made films, and he even showcases some area YouTube clips (one of which has been mine).
The other new blog site (more of a regional site for Asheville, NC-Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson, SC) is brought to us by WYFF-4 and is called Sound Off South (http://soundoffsouth.com/). The staff at WYFF4.com showcase blogs on the main page from Spartanburg, Greenville, Asheville, and Anderson. They also contribute their own blog posts to the site.
Hey friends, yesterday I was thinking of some random thoughts while I was spending time with my mom and hanging out at Olive Garden and downtown on Thursday. Here are those thoughts:
I am now officially a computer solitaire addict! Anytime I'm on here to use the Internet or to blog (like I am now), I always play at least 5-10 games of solitaire. It is addictive as playing with paint, any kind of photoshop-type applications, just typing random things (DWIGHT DWIGHT DWIGHT DWIGHT), or when I manage Web pages. I told my mom about this and she said that her boyfriend started out as a solitaire addict and now he is an online/computer poker addict. Could I be heading down that road?? Well...like I said to her, there are worse things to which I could be addicted.
I mentioned in my previous blog that I read two articles in the Link (one about a film school, the other about speed dating) and the one about speed dating was one where the reporter said she would try anything once. Well I like to think I usually have that mentality, too (at least unless it's drugs or something)...I tried swing dancing the other night (and almost didn't), and I loved it. I've thought about taking some film classes (because I love making videos/cinematography). I tried racquetball for the first time this summer and am going to try shagging on Sunday evening (God willing). The Link's speed dating article made me think more about how I approach and interact with other people.
I also was thinking about some of the random things that can happen to you while you are at work. Because of the new Star Wars movie being in theaters, there were some people who voluntarily dressed as Star Wars characters. A guy (or a woman with a deep voice) dressed as Darth Vader stood by me while I tore tickets. I introduced a couple of customers to "my friend, Darth Vader" and introduced him to "my customers". Also, work can be very interesting. My co-worker Jamie and I experienced a couple of "amazing" customers the other day (Tuesday). One of them was this man (whose name escapes me) and he supposedly really got into his emotions when he forgot his "Regal Crown Club Card or something" and then he introduced himself to me (and Jamie..."JD"), shook our hands, and had a grin a mile-wide on his face that I think mine extended to two miles! Another group of four came up there from Greenville (because apparently they didn't want to be "seen" around their town) and were they a "scene" in this one! They were very nice, yet crazy, people. Also, work can be as boring as it is interesting. Fortunately, Jamie and I have two best friends at work...their names are Paper Clips and Bubble Wrap. Jamie and I would sneak and pop bubble wrap bubbles when there were no main managers around/no people who were prone to strokes/heart attacks/annurisms/seizures. Jamie also made everyone necklaces (with 3-D pyramids as the stones) out of paper clips. That was such a fun, random day!
Well thanks pals for tuning in...I'm now signing off and will resume my "blogcast" day sometime tomorrow afternoon or evening. Until then, have a pleasant good night...and good morning.
