I fell behind a little bit on keeping up with blog posts. I need to catch up on some thing for not only class, but on my diet as well. I will do that sometime this week.

It's been "one of those weeks" for me. Everyone has them.

For class this week, my blog needs to include ideas for my final project.

Recently, I did a story on a friend losing weight for her wedding. I think I'd like to continue on with it for a final project. I think that there is a lot of information and I also think that it is a subject that hit home with a lot of brides-to-be and woman in general.

I'd like to interview the trainer that the couple has been going to and see what kind of workout he plans for brides-to-be, how frequently they are losing weight for a wedding and whether or not they actually meet their goals. There seems to be a lot involved in a wedding, and I'd think that the stress of the event would add to the weight-loss process.

I'd like to take some pictures, as time has gone on since they've started the process and also track them and/or follow them through one of their workouts for a hands-on point of view. I think that filming some of it would put the work that they've been doing into perceptive and hopefully show them reaching their goal!

11 Pounds Ain't Half Bad.

Amanda and AJ are visiting from Pennsylvania for the weekend. AJ had the pleasure of joining me for a workout today at the lovely time of 7:30am. While this used to be a normal time for me to be awake, it has become painful. I'm pretty sure AJ is still aching.

Today's working out was for the legs. Thank God my legs have recovered from the scary day of not being able to get out of bed. We had to lift weights with our legs, do step ups with a 20 lbs weight in each hand and run up and down the steps. It wasn't the worst thing ever, but I can tell you that it wasn't easy. We did it and of course I complained... The only thing I have to say is that I will complain all that I want as long as I keep doing it and seeing results. Two more pounds today is great. Consistently losing the weight makes it all worth it, and while I know it's hard work, the end absolutely justifies the means.

Draw Me A Storyboard

Our blog topic this week was to check out storyboards. While I feel as though I have a hard time grasping a lot of the more technically advanced aspects of multimedia journalism, storyboards are something that seems to come easy. Brainstorming is taught very early on in elementary school while writing stories and is used throughout adulthood into careers.

The idea of a storyboard is not much different than brainstorming. Instead of words, pictures are used in sequential order of thoughts. They are often put into slides onto the computer and are easy to edit by just a click of the mouse.

Storyboards make great sense to me as a student journalist who seems to visually learn better. I like the idea of putting a story into pictures so that it is easy to follow and and even easier to cut, paste and edit ideas without having to erase paragraphs. It is also a great way to share stories with others. As quoted in this "how to" video on storyboard development, everyone is "literally on the same page." Each idea is presented step-by-step and everything is mapped out.

I think this is a great tool if a story has a lot of information or parts, or if there are a lot of people working on one particular project. Ideas can be presented separately and easily come together as one.

This cold is not cool

Ive had a nasty cold for a couple of days now. I call it a cold, but it's probably a mixture of an ear infection, sinus infection and some sort of tonsil thingy. Plus, I have a serious case of man voice. It's not pretty to say the least.

Sadly, this means that I had to cancel my training appointment today as well as miss class. I hate doing both. I feel like I let myself and others down. I believe that one of the reasons that I get sick, though, is that I never slow down. I'm a "go all of the time" kind of person and some days, one just needs to sit down.

I went to the doctor yesterday, which was a very disappointing experience for me. I've gone to only three "family" doctors in my life and have been extremely comfortable with all of them. It is very hard to move to a new place and find someone that you are comfortable with to replace years of building relationships. Yesterday I was told to "wait it out" and take some Alieve. What a waste of a visit. It's horribly discouraging to put faith in someone and have them tell you to "wait it out." All I wanted was relief and I got aggravation. 

Needless to say, since I haven't been doing much movement, I don't think there will be any good results or updates. Not a big deal, considering no one actually wants to be sick and/or in pain from a weirdo swollen tonsil.

Either way, I think all I'm going to lose this week is one doctor... that I won't "wait out," that's for sure.

Who Makes Me RUN!?!

I didn't mention, that at last week's training sess, the trainer made me run. Ha. I'm almost 30 years old and have yet to ever run in my life. I thought I was going to kill him, literally. I think I'd go to jail for said running.

I also weighed a pound and a half less. I'm feeling fantastic about this and am seeing little changes already. Clothing is fitting better, my face looks a little thinner and it's making my mood better.

Whoop.

Slide show, smlide show.

I am definitely a little bit late with this as we have been taking care of Winston since his surgery, not sleeping well and being sick off and on for the past couple of weeks. No bueno, to say the least.

One of the requirements for class is that we not only maintain a blog, but that we also answer questions that pertain to multimedia journalism as well as post on certain topics. Last week's topic, which I seemed to have completely passed over (whoops) was to find an effective slide show and relate what makes it news. I found tons of slide shows, but whether or not they are news is questionable.

I found a very interesting article, accompanied by a Slide Show on The Huffington Post that I found rather useful to class. The slide show is short, and features pictures and captions that not only support the story, but elaborate effectively.

Last month, the public radio program "This American Life," retracted a story concerning the working conditions of Apple Inc. in China, which was a huge blow to show, who has maintained journalistic integrity for many years. 

"Host Ira Glass said that actor Mike Daisey, whose monologue formed the basis of the story, had lied to the program during the fact-checking process, and that he and his colleagues had been too trusting of him."

While this is very uncommon for "This American Life," it is not so uncommon for the journalism world to produce "news" that isn't always as accurate as the public would like it to be and instances are shown through the slide show.

As a journalism student, this is a hard pill to swallow. Fact-checking and maintaining the integrity of the story should be number one, however people can spend their whole careers pulling the wool over the eyes of, not only the editors, but the readers as well.

Mentioned in the slide show was New York Times writer Jayson Blair who had fabricated facts in at least 36 of his stories. He made up names and quotes of stories that were important to the public and very sensitive to the times. It blows my mind, that in this day-and-age, with all sorts of ways to find facts, people still skimp on them.

It shows a huge lack of respect for readers and to fellow journalists, who want to in fact maintain the integrity of the news.