Merry Christmas!

You may have thought my blog was lost in the digital abyss but it is very much alive! The busy fall semester of 2010 is in the books and it was a satisfying experience academically. I’ll begin things here by recapping my start in the professional program at the UM School of Journalism.

I was excited to begin my foray into online reporting but the prospect scared the hell out of me a little too. The class turned out to be a great experience and I had the opportunity to work on a collaborative project for NewWest.net Our class explored food/agriculture issues unfolding in the Rocky Mountain West during the semester. The group I was part of tackled agricultural decline and attempts to revitalize the current situation.

I covered the history and impacts of agricultural decline in eastern Montana and Colorado. It was a daunting task to construct this story but I had tremendous luck in gathering informative sources. The whole story process was invaluable and I was quite happy with how everything turned out.

Our class had five groups that explored different areas of the food economy and our work will appear on NewWest.net, an online news source covering issues in the Rocky Mountain West. It’s exciting that NewWest is giving us the room to run a 5-day series on their web site. I’ll put my story up here when it appears.

My other journalism class was less exciting but it taught the basics of print editing and the extensive AP style method. The experience was tough but in the end I developed skills that will serve me well in the future. I learned that editors do a ton of work and it is something I respect but really don’t have a passion for. Personally I find reporting to be where I would like to focus.

I took a Native American studies class, which I thoroughly enjoyed but more on that after Christmas.

Recently I discovered a new social media tool that is a cross between Facebook and Twitter. It’s called Tumblr and I really like the simple format it uses. I’ll use my Tumblr page to put up stories & photos I find interesting along with some lighter stuff as well. You can view it by visiting: http://markboatman.tumblr.com/

Well that’s it for now but I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! Have a safe weekend and I will return in a few days with a wrap on the rest of the fall semester.

Peace,

Mark

Birthday bash

Every once in awhile we get to have those perfect days. Days where all is right with the world and nothing can seem to go wrong. I was lucky enough to have a day like this twelve days ago when I celebrated my 35th birthday with friends and family.

My parents planned to be in Missoula this year for my birthday and I thought it would be fun to have a get together while they were in town. Theresa and I planned a picnic for my folks and many of our Missoula friends. It ended up being a fantastic event and a chance for people to gather before fall arrives.

We had ribs, chicken, salads, along with some great adult libations. Not to worry the kids had soda and water to drink ☺ Theresa thought she was being quite funny by putting a sheep on my cake as you can see in the picture HA HA HA There is a story that goes along with my cake motif but you’ll have to ask Theresa about that!

It was awesome having T’s grand daughter Aleah and our nurse Casey’s kids in attendance. They are all so cute and man are they getting so darn big. Aleah was kinda shy but Casey’s boys sure warmed up to everyone.

Piper, Casey’s oldest boy is six and he lives to play pranks. Well Theresa bought Jelly Belly jelly beans for the party but she bought Piper some “special” look-alikes that were in a word noxious. He laughed so hard giving me these nasty confections. The jelly beans were disguised as normal Jelly Belly’s but they were flavors that included: skunk spray, pencil shavings, dog food, toothpaste, baby wipes, rotten eggs, and centipede. Hey at least I was given some normal ones in between.

Well I’ve rambled enough but I would like to thank everyone who was involved in my special day. Having my parents here was the best birthday present I could ask for. Sometime this weekend I will blog about the rest of my parent’s recent visit.

Peace… Mark

Pug-demonium

Wow it’s been a busy but amazing summer and I apologize for the lack of blogging activity. Things are going great in Missoula and I just had a very nice visit with my parents. There will be a blog about that soon but in the meantime here’s one about our first visit to the weekly Mountain Pugs meetup here in town. I hope everyone of you is having a fantastic summer and I promise that my blog will be busy before the start of fall.

The Missoulian recently published an article about Mountain Pugs, a locally based Pug owner group that meets weekly at Missoula’s Bark Park. We got very excited after reading this because we’ve been looking for a way to network with other area Pug nuts for a long time. Well about ten days ago we braved the unknown and under went our initiation in local Pug culture.

Theresa and I pulled up near Bark Park with Sammy and Ugga not knowing what craziness lay in store for the four of us. We turned onto the trail leading into the park and met the owners of Bam Bam, an enormous thirty eight pound muscular Pug. We walked and talked while Bam Bam playfully chased after Ugga. It turns out they were all making their first visit to the group too.

I wound my way to the meeting spot, maneuvering my chair around bumps and low hanging tree branches. We finally arrived at a shady area where all the other members were congregating with their curly tailed furkids. I looked to the right, I looked to the left, and all I could see were PUGS. There were fawns, blacks, little Pugs, big Pugs, young Pugs, old Pugs, and even a few Puggles thrown in for good measure. Ugga was quickly off to socialize with the others but things were quite different with our Sammy.

Sammy is usually if not always Mr. Outgoing at home but in the presence of all these strange Pugs, he became a big shy guy. He initially wanted Theresa to hold him but after a few minutes he cautiously checked out his surroundings. He didn’t venture very far from the security of his mama though. Sammy will definitely be making more meetups so he can learn to better socialize with his furry brethren.

I’ve included some of my favorite pictures from the meetup. The second picture is of a sweet Pug named Polly. Little Miss Polly slowly made her way up to me at first, woofing at the mysterious contraption I was seated in. Her owner then brought her up for a closer look and I was immediately given a few gentle pug kisses. I was sure smitten with Polly and can’t wait to see her next time.

The final picture is of our Ugga. We brought along a water dish for our kids but it didn’t hold Ugga’s interest very long. She was wandering around and thought this dish looked much more inviting than hers. Nothing like your Pug lounging in another dog’s dish. Oh well nobody minded at all because we were all there to get away from the grind and smile at life for awhile.

We had a great time meeting over 50 Pugs and their wonderful owners (or people as I like to say). I look forward to many more meetups in the future and getting to know many new friends both furry and human. My life has been so enriched by these snorty, silly, and bug-eyed creatures and it’s amazing to be around others who couldn’t agree more.

Peace,

Mark

Slower pace

Life here in Missoula has slowed down after summer school wrapped and I've started enjoying summertime. It feels good to have had a successful summer class and there was so much I was able to learn.

I've attached a copy of my final project and I couldn't be happier with my first attempt at non-linear video editing. The process leading up to the final selected video was pretty intense because we only had five weeks to learn everything. This included many hours gathering video & interviews, researching, and editing it all together. Hope your enjoy the story I was able to assemble.

The best part of the class was working with our professor Kagan. He made the class not only informative but fun too. The real world knowledge we gathered will serve many of us well in our future careers in journalism. Gets me excited to begin the professional program in the fall.

The transition from school to vacation has been fabulous and it's great to unwind a little bit. I plan on enjoying my time off and I have a few plans. This weekend our friend Julie from New Hampshire is flying in for a visit. She plans on checking out the U for grad school and it will be fun showing off what western Montana has to offer. My folks are coming out for a visit in August for my birthday as well. Summer will end on a high note as Theresa, Dustin, and I will catch The John Mellencamp/Bob Dylan concert here in town.

Hope everyone's summer is going great and hopefully I'll be back with another update real soon.

Peace...Mark