Merger Mania

I was getting ready to look over the materials given to me to prepare for tax assistance when someone here in the office looked at their phone and saw an alert from CNN that Comcast and General Electric had announced a partnership in NBC Universal, with the cable company taking a controlling interest and GE keeping a 49 percent stake while buying out Vivendi.

I like mergers in general. They bring about change to the way corporations do things. Perhaps my favorite merger of all time was the one between Viacom and CBS. It only lasted a few years, but it was fun to see the Tiffany Network under the same umbrella as MTV, VH1 and Nickelodeon.

I was also happy when Wells Fargo announced it was buying Wachovia. As a Wells Fargo customer, it didn’t cost me extra to withdraw money from a Wachovia ATM in Philadelphia.

Some people might not necessarily agree. They’ll say that mergers allow Wall Street companies to inch ever so closer to world domination and suffocate Main Street businesses’ chances at success. In some cases, they’re right.

For example, most of the grocery stores here in town are chains. Hy-Vee and Fareway have their headquarters in Iowa, but their reach is statewide and beyond. Then of course, Wal-Mart and Target offer groceries in their Cedar Rapids area stores.

“We’re talking about a major broadcast TV network, several popular cable networks and a big movie studio becoming part of an outfit that is the nation’s top cable and residential Internet broadband provider and No. 3 residential phone service provider,” writes Phil Rosenthal of the Chicago Tribune. “The ramifications go far beyond prime time, late local news and even a TV institution such as ‘The Tonight Show.’”

Rosenthal also points out that NBC owns an affiliate in the Windy City, where Comcast is a major provider. It will be interesting to see what that will mean for competitors of both the cable system and TV station.

What I like about this merger though is that it brings NBC Sports together with Comcast’s Versus channel, plus their regional sports networks. The Peacock might not be able to dethrone the current king of sports broadcasting, ESPN, but I think with the right strategy, they can at least give the Worldwide Leader in Tiger, Tebow and Kobe a run for its money.

It seems odd that a working class-type like me would approve of capitalist mega-mergers, but you should also know that I’m a fan of trailblazing and experimenting. Our society became what it is today because people explored new ideas, ideas that weren’t part of the status quo. The Comcast-NBC merger will no doubt bring new ideas to the table, and I for one am excited to see them.

The Taxman Cometh

I am pleased to announce that everything I wanted to get done this week is now done. So what I’m going to do for the remainder of the week? Learn how to become a tax preparer.

I’ve agreed to help out with the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, or VITA for short. People with an income of less than $49,000 can have their taxes prepared for free. Quite a few people fall under that category, especially journalists. However, the IRS stipulates that to qualify, you have to be unable to do taxes on your own.

How they would tell whether you can do your own taxes or not, I don’t know. Maybe I will find out when I get the learning materials later today. I’ll spend some time looking at it tomorrow and Friday and let you know more.

Busy Week

I managed to get quite a bit done yesterday. Out of four pieces of content, I’ve finished three of them: the new weekly profile, a recap on Harvest of Hope, plus I edited down a press release sent by AmeriCorps NCCC to be included on the Web site. Media outlets do this sort of thing all the time, and besides, I asked that credit be given to the person who wrote the release.

I’ve also been awaiting information on the Flooded Arts festival so I can have something on that. Matthew Aswegan got back to me this morning, he says nearly 100 people showed up to the event, which raised $1,300. Nice work, Matt!

Nothing big is happening now until next month, when we do a Martin Luther King day of service, plus our Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program starts up to help prepare folks for the tax season. Still, this week is looking pretty busy, with a grant writing training today and a meeting on the MLK plans tomorrow.

And I have to decide still what to do about the car. Last week, I was leaning towards buying a new car. But after visiting the dealership again on Friday, I’m thinking I should just keep the one I have now. It still drives pretty well, and we’ve had too much fun together.

I scratched the bumper pretty good a few months back, went to one auto body shop who told me they’d need to replace the entire bumper, and that would run me about $700. I’m going to visit a couple more places on the west side of town to see what they’ll say.

And yes, it is the 1st of December, so we’re 24 days away from Christmas. I hope nobody wants anything too extravagant, because a lot of money will go towards a down payment on the car (I’m thinking probably $3,000) and perhaps to repair the scratch on the bumper, plus I have a couple of bills I need to pay.

Most of the stuff we get each other for Christmas usually comes from the mall or Target, however, so I doubt we’ll be spending buku bucks on present.

Meanwhile, I need to spend some time figuring out what to write for this Flooded Arts story. Have a good day!

Hope Becomes Reality

After a nice Thanksgiving with my family, I spent two days helping out with Harvest of Hope, which was wildly successful. The effort, which involved local volunteers joining VISTAs to work on rebuilding over the holiday weekend, received coverage from all three television operations.

Casey Westlake, who organized the event, told me she thinks I was responsible for that. She may be right, my time in the local media may have piqued the interest of the people I used to work with. But I think it has more to do with the timing. Because many people take the day after Thanksgiving off, not a whole lot is going on outside of the annual fare about all the shopping and driving people are doing over the weekend.

It also helped that there is no Iowa football until the bowl game, which is looking more and more like the Fiesta against Boise State. A Hawkeye game wouldn’t matter so much as far as the news is concerned, because crews would still be looking for other things to cover, but it could have kept the volunteer numbers down. We had about 100 people participate over the course of the project.

I took plenty of video on Saturday afternoon of people hard at work on mudding and mucking and gutting homes, plus taking in an alternative Thanksgiving meal just downstairs from my office at the St. Wenceslaus Gym Building. Here’s the edited version:

I split the video into two parts really: one where they’re doing the work and the other where they have lunch together. I think that best signifies how this is different from a normal day. I mean, the work done over the weekend is the same as what’s being done today. But the big meal with the large group of volunteers brought together that spirit of family and giving thanks that Casey was going for when she planned this event.

I’m thrilled Harvest of Hope went as well as it did. And it is my hope that this event can continue, even long after the flood cleanup is complete.

Happy Thanksgiving

I’m going to try to keep this one short and sweet, as I have an interview to transcribe this morning. I will also probably take a half day today, because I have to go up to Mason City to get my grandmother and bring her down for tomorrow’s gathering.

Even though I consider this by and large to be a rough year, I’m not without things to be thankful for. There have been some great opportunities that have presented themselves and I am thankful that I have been able to take advantage of those opportunities. I can’t believe I am now one-third of the way through the year of service. Staying busy has certainly helped that time fly.

I am also thankful for my wonderful family. I knew that I would be able to survive the next year because I lived at home and had parents who were very supportive of what I was doing. They have made this process a whole lot easier.

But most importantly, I’m thankful to be where I am right now, alive and kicking in Iowa. There are days when it’s not easy and you wonder why you even bother pressing on. But instead of throwing in the towel, you learn to make the best of the situation, and it usually results in something positive.

I will be helping out with the Harvest of Hope project Friday and Saturday, but don’t know that I will blog on Friday. So I want to wish everyone a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving weekend.

Weekly Profiles

So we relaunched the Web site eleven days ago, and the new design looks pretty good. But that’s only the first wave of changes. Lauren Yergeau plans on adding more new features to it in the coming weeks. My understanding is the site will eventually have Flash capabilities. Pretty sweet, if you ask me.

In the process of re-envisioning the Web site, we’ve also had some discussion about what type of content should go on there. Obviously, you have your major events to promote, like the Flooded Arts Festival, which I went to on Saturday after the Iowa football game and Matthew Aswegan told me it had gone well. I’m waiting to hear from him on the grand totals for the event. Turns out, he is on vacation.

We also have the VISTA of the Month profile, where we explore the various backgrounds of some of our people. You learn interesting things about them: Matthew, for example, wants to be a vocal performer someday. And this Web site overhaul was the first one Lauren has done on a professional level.

But another thing that’s been thrown out there is a weekly profile. I wasn’t quite sure at first how to make it different from the monthly profiles I’ve been doing. But after a few brainstorming sessions, we’ve been able to hash the idea out. My suggestion was that the monthly version should be strictly video, and I can handle the weeklies.

The other way to distinguish the two would be to make the weekly version more of a spotlight on the program the volunteer is helping out with. Our people are involved in different projects around the area, so it would be a good way for the public to find out about the entities we work with.

I’m going to try to get the first weekly done in this short week, do the interview today then spend the day before Thanksgiving transcribing it. I need to set the interview up first, should probably do that here very shortly.

Clearing the Air

I want to spend today’s post responding to a comment made to me over the weekend. I feel the need to address what I perceive to be criticism of something I’ve done. All I’m looking to do here is set the record straight on the matter and I will do so tactfully.

The perceived criticism: After Kansas City’s stunning 27-24 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers yesterday, a Chiefs fan who I’ve known for a while posted on my Facebook, “Last i checked you became a free agent and no longer gave our team hope.”

A couple of months ago, I stumbled upon this “Fan Free Agency” site where fans can express their discontent with their favorite team. Fed up with seeing the Chiefs turn into a dysfunctional organization (which has more to do with the previous management than it does the current, though the 1-7 start did not help matters), I submitted my name to be listed as a disgruntled fan.

I doubt very much that I’m the only person who doesn’t like what the team has become, but in the eyes of “true fans”, it’s considered a cardinal sin. And I had forgotten that I even entertained the idea until I was reminded of it.

I’ve poured through the listed of disgruntled fans on the Fan Free Agency site, and my name is not on there, so as far as I’m concerned, my free agency papers never went through. Furthermore, I have never lost hope that a day like yesterday would come for the Chiefs. I just wasn’t going to spend three hours that I’m not going to get back waiting for it, only to be disappointed in the end. I’ve been down that road too many times.

Getting ready to go to Sam’s Club with my father in the early afternoon (while the game was going on), I put on my Chiefs sweatshirt. Then in Sam’s, I checked the score on my iPhone. I was surprised when they trailed the Steelers by just 10 points at halftime. Then when I saw later it was tied, I thought Kansas City could pull it off, but I wasn’t going to hold my breath.

We had to go back home to put away the stuff we bought at Sam’s before we went to Hy-Vee, so I caught the end of the game. And I was thrilled that they were able to win, especially against the defending Super Bowl champions. That’s a big win right there.

The sentiment is that “true fans” are the ones who stick by their team no matter what. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I feel that those tend to be the people owners take advantage of. As long as they come to the games and spend their money on merchandise and stadium concessions, what incentive do the higher-ups have to make necessary changes?

Teams are run as businesses, and the players on the field are the product. And be honest, how willing would you be to buy a product that doesn’t work? If anything, I think you’re showing just as much support by questioning the way things are and not just accepting what they give you.

Less is More

There are days when I spend an entire afternoon trying to determine what I’m going to put in this space. Nothing comes at me, and what I do put down, I don’t like. This has caused me to evaluate the blog.

My first thought was that I only write on days where I truly have something to say. Skipping a day here and there wouldn’t be a bad idea. In fact, I will be skipping a day next week, as Thursday is Thanksgiving. Not sure yet what to do about the day after. I will be helping out with Harvest of Hope then.

After some consideration though, I’ve decided that I will continue to write on a daily basis, I just won’t write as much if I don’t have anything to discuss.

As I said yesterday, the Internet is a great tool. It gives us what we want when we want it. And a lot of times, all we want are the bare facts. Leave out the details that aren’t important. And if that means all you have are two or three paragraphs, then so be it.

This is a day where there’s not much I can think of to share, and in the spirit of this post, I’m going to go ahead and cut it off here. Have a great weekend!

I See

Well, I started the day off right by knocking my glasses off a wall unit in my bedroom. They didn’t break, but they’re definitely out of whack. Looks like a trip to LensCrafters is on the horizon.

Not too long after that, my brother commits what is my biggest pet peeve at the moment. I’m trying to get ready, and he turns on SportsCenter in the living room. For some reason, he likes to watch ESPN in the living room. I will come home after 4 p.m., and there he is, watching sportswriters scream at each other on “Around the Horn” and “Pardon the Interruption.” He has a TV in his bedroom, why can’t he watch ESPN on that?

Of course, Chris gets just as annoyed with me for watching all the “Law and Order” shows. I used to watch those in the living room, but now that I have HD, I’ll watch in my bedroom most of the time. I haven’t been able to watch most of the new L&Os, however, because NBC chose to put them in the Friday death slot to make room for Jay Leno, and I’m generally busy on Fridays.

I don’t watch tube nearly as much as I did when I was a kid. I’ve found in recent years that there isn’t a whole lot on. It’s to the point where if I’m flipping through channels and see that SpongeBob SquarePants is on, I will watch it because nothing else interests me.

Anymore, I spend more time on the Internet. There’s nothing quite like it. A lot of times you can get what you want, when you want it. No searching to the ends of the earth for information like in the old days. You can even find me. Just type my name in a Google search and there I am.

All of the information in the Google search I just did is about me. There’s even a listing on U.S. Search that tells what cities I’ve lived in (excluding Spencer) and who my immediate family is. That’s both fascinating and creepy at the same time. I guess Big Brother really is watching.

Bein’ Green

At the halfway point of the week, I’ve gotten half of what I need to do finished. I finished up the profile yesterday and had to write something on a safety training we had as well. I also just completed a survey about the amount of driving I do for work purposes, which I estimate to be about 100 miles in a two-week period, so not that much. I have just a couple of things to accomplish now, and my list will be all done!

I keep the cards I received in the colors training here in my office to give myself and others a sense of my mindset at the time. Most of the time, it’s blue, although lately, I’ve used green quite a bit and even had the gold card visible the other day. Today, it’s on green, which means I have things to do, but I’m not stressing out about them.

I’m also happy to say that I feel better today, so I’m chalking up my symptoms from the past couple of days to fatigue. I still feel somewhat tired, despite going to bed at 9:15 last night. Although I’m a huge fan of taking naps, I haven’t done it as much lately because I find that they keep me up late at night.

While I was downstairs, someone was asking me how my day is going. I told them it’s too early. Seems to be going okay at the moment, though.