Dept. of Saturday
Saturday, 1 November 2014 04:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kaffy_rThis Cold Sucks, Like a Great Sucking Thing ... Oh, And Other Stuff
Here I am, trying to get back on the posting bike again.
I was supposed to go to a Chicago Humanities Festival panel, "Chicks Dig Time Lords," today. It's being hosted by the editors, includingrarelylynne of course, and I'd been looking forward to this for so long! I'd bought the tickets more than a month ago, and had it marked on my calendar, and was going to go with two friends, and ...
... and the cold got worse overnight, expanding in my head and crawling down to settle into my chest. I opened my eyes this morning, and almost immediately realized that I couldn't get the energy up to go. Not only that, I'd potentially be spreading the cold to everyone else. So I cancelled with my friends, and have been lying here on the couch in what counts as jammies, drinking tea, wrapped in my shawl and feeling very sorry for myself.
So now I am thinking about going through my favorites on Teaspoon, because I'll be reccing at Calufrax in a couple of weeks, and I should be ready.
(Heh. I just looked at that sentence and realized that to a non-fan it would mean nothing absolutely nothing, with suspect grammar and spelling to match.)
I'm also working on trying to get some more done on Hearts & Moons, Chap. 24. What is it that eve11 calls her long term challenge, a WIP o'doom? That's what I'm dealing with here. I am determined to finish the story, but - oh, never mind, you've heard it before.
Other things: yes, my newspaper chain, Pioneer Press, got sold yesterday by the Sun-Times. You can read about it from both sides here. And here's a reasonable analysis of what it means for both companies. Even though it was written before the deal was closed, it's pretty dead-on, in my opinion.
im Knight, the operative head of the Sun-Times wrote us a largely ungrammatical and completely ungrateful kiss-off email, which was absolutely typical of the dead-eyed little corporate prick who. along with majority ST owner Michael Ferro, is running that company into the ground. Between the two of them, they'll end the Sun-Times, probably within five years of having taken it over in 2011.
Meanwhile, the folks at the Chicago Tribune wrote us a very generic "welcome, we're all family and we're happy to have you, nothing will change at least until the end of the year" type email. Well, I hold that email in the type of regard you reserve for such corporate speak, but I will say this for them. One thing that won't change is our contracts.
Ahem. Let me say that again.
The Tribune, Colonel Robert S. McCormick's Tribune, a vast empire that still bears the imprint of its fascist, virulently anti-labor founder, assumed the three Guild contracts that cover three newspaper chains' worth of editorial staffs.
As one wag amongst my colleagues quipped, we've finally managed to unionize the Tribune. They were that desperate to buy us. I fully expect them to try to break us when our contract is up in about two years, but it gives us time to plan and defend ourselves. It's one immediate load off my back, although I'm perfectly cognizant that the road will not be smooth.
It's amazing how fast the sale was completed. From the word breaking on Oct. 21 to Friday, when the sale became final. That's how desperate for immediate cash the ST is. Now comes transition. We'll see how much change there actually is, and how much time they will need for the proper transition - everything from what operating platform we do editorial work on (after just switching to a Wordpress-based system less than a month ago, I'm not looking forward to learning something else), to switching pay systems, learning what medical system we get coverage under, etc. etc.
I got reports that, on the very afternoon the sale was announced, the former ST suburban staff downtown, including Pioneer editors and non-reporting types, were being ordered to pack up their stuff at the Sun-Times and head, at least temporarily, for Tribune Tower. It would, after all, be awkward to be working in the same newsroom as the people who have suddenly become your indirect competition. I don't know how much of that has happened by now. But, oh my, the interesting times ahead.
As for me, right now, we're waiting to see Dr. Who, which should be possible in just a few minutes. I'm going to focus on that because, after all, this chick does indeed love Time Lords. They make everything better, even with a head cold.
Here I am, trying to get back on the posting bike again.
I was supposed to go to a Chicago Humanities Festival panel, "Chicks Dig Time Lords," today. It's being hosted by the editors, including
rarelylynne of course, and I'd been looking forward to this for so long! I'd bought the tickets more than a month ago, and had it marked on my calendar, and was going to go with two friends, and ...... and the cold got worse overnight, expanding in my head and crawling down to settle into my chest. I opened my eyes this morning, and almost immediately realized that I couldn't get the energy up to go. Not only that, I'd potentially be spreading the cold to everyone else. So I cancelled with my friends, and have been lying here on the couch in what counts as jammies, drinking tea, wrapped in my shawl and feeling very sorry for myself.
So now I am thinking about going through my favorites on Teaspoon, because I'll be reccing at Calufrax in a couple of weeks, and I should be ready.
(Heh. I just looked at that sentence and realized that to a non-fan it would mean nothing absolutely nothing, with suspect grammar and spelling to match.)
I'm also working on trying to get some more done on Hearts & Moons, Chap. 24. What is it that eve11 calls her long term challenge, a WIP o'doom? That's what I'm dealing with here. I am determined to finish the story, but - oh, never mind, you've heard it before.
Other things: yes, my newspaper chain, Pioneer Press, got sold yesterday by the Sun-Times. You can read about it from both sides here. And here's a reasonable analysis of what it means for both companies. Even though it was written before the deal was closed, it's pretty dead-on, in my opinion.
im Knight, the operative head of the Sun-Times wrote us a largely ungrammatical and completely ungrateful kiss-off email, which was absolutely typical of the dead-eyed little corporate prick who. along with majority ST owner Michael Ferro, is running that company into the ground. Between the two of them, they'll end the Sun-Times, probably within five years of having taken it over in 2011.
Meanwhile, the folks at the Chicago Tribune wrote us a very generic "welcome, we're all family and we're happy to have you, nothing will change at least until the end of the year" type email. Well, I hold that email in the type of regard you reserve for such corporate speak, but I will say this for them. One thing that won't change is our contracts.
Ahem. Let me say that again.
The Tribune, Colonel Robert S. McCormick's Tribune, a vast empire that still bears the imprint of its fascist, virulently anti-labor founder, assumed the three Guild contracts that cover three newspaper chains' worth of editorial staffs.
As one wag amongst my colleagues quipped, we've finally managed to unionize the Tribune. They were that desperate to buy us. I fully expect them to try to break us when our contract is up in about two years, but it gives us time to plan and defend ourselves. It's one immediate load off my back, although I'm perfectly cognizant that the road will not be smooth.
It's amazing how fast the sale was completed. From the word breaking on Oct. 21 to Friday, when the sale became final. That's how desperate for immediate cash the ST is. Now comes transition. We'll see how much change there actually is, and how much time they will need for the proper transition - everything from what operating platform we do editorial work on (after just switching to a Wordpress-based system less than a month ago, I'm not looking forward to learning something else), to switching pay systems, learning what medical system we get coverage under, etc. etc.
I got reports that, on the very afternoon the sale was announced, the former ST suburban staff downtown, including Pioneer editors and non-reporting types, were being ordered to pack up their stuff at the Sun-Times and head, at least temporarily, for Tribune Tower. It would, after all, be awkward to be working in the same newsroom as the people who have suddenly become your indirect competition. I don't know how much of that has happened by now. But, oh my, the interesting times ahead.
As for me, right now, we're waiting to see Dr. Who, which should be possible in just a few minutes. I'm going to focus on that because, after all, this chick does indeed love Time Lords. They make everything better, even with a head cold.
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no subject
Date: Saturday, 1 November 2014 10:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Sunday, 2 November 2014 05:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Saturday, 1 November 2014 10:59 pm (UTC)Reading that last article, it does look like that, if they're selling off the most profitable bits and pieces of it. Cutting costs to the degree that he's cutting his own throat. It also sounds like Ferro has a bee in his bonnet about "going digital" whether or not it is profitable. Nuts.
no subject
Date: Sunday, 2 November 2014 05:26 pm (UTC)You have no idea how much I agree with you. And you've honed in on just what I think will destroy Chicago's second newspaper company. We've dealt with Ferro and Knight over the past two years during our negotiations, and this isn't the first time I've inveighed against both of them. Now it feels weird to talk about them as "the opposition," especially because I'm still emotionally tied to the company they're wrecking.
no subject
Date: Sunday, 2 November 2014 05:54 am (UTC)And I've been reminded by this that long-running chronic illness can give one a false sense of dealwithability[1], because if one is managing to deal with almost daily pain, exhaustion, low-grade fever and generally grumpy immune system it's easy to think that dealing with a random passing bug will be equally doable. But it turns out that all this long-term chronically ill person is good at dealing with is, yes, almost daily pain, exhaustion, low-grade fever &c &c &c. Shazbut!
Meanwhile, hurrah for some sort of least worst job outcome and breathing room to plan against the ever more spoilsome robber barons and (bloodthirsty pirate) captains of industry. And definitely interesting times a-coming, by the sound of it!
May we both get wellerer soonest...
[1] which, when I typed it, looked uncannily like deathwishability. Which is a whole 'nother thing.
no subject
Date: Sunday, 2 November 2014 06:06 pm (UTC)And I've been reminded by this that long-running chronic illness can give one a false sense of dealwithability
Huh. Yeah, you're right. It's almost like a twisted version of a teenager's sense of invulnerability. "Hell, I'm dealing with pain all the time; I can deal with - fuck! I hate sneezing! Fuck, I hate dripping mucous all over the damned place!"
And, no, no deathwishability. It is indeed a different thing. Sometimes dealt with, more often avoided.
no subject
Date: Tuesday, 11 November 2014 06:36 am (UTC)For the record, the Virus of Suck either came back for another round or invited in its far more muscular cousin a week later, with the result that I missed everything for three days and was too weak to even engage in Captain Trips jokes. I suspect 1) the latter and 2) that it's probably, from the sound of it, the same one that caused a certain legendary rock shouter to cancel his band's Melbourne gig last week. Anyway, I've re-improved back to the point of being merely dealwithably ill and was not only able but also mentally primed for a couple of hours of race-walking today, so no complaints here :-)
no subject
Date: Saturday, 1 November 2014 11:17 pm (UTC)Fannish jargon is somewhat opaque to the uninitiated, isn't it? Thanks for the review you left for me while going through the archives. You always leave such lovely reviews.
Yay? I think on the newspaper stuff. It sounds rushes, complex, and stressful (and the generic forms letters sound annoying, as generic form letters always are), but if it gives you a bit of breathing room that's good to hear.
Hope you enjoy the Who!
no subject
Date: Sunday, 2 November 2014 12:43 am (UTC)I truly couldn't imagine why I hadn't reviewed that story. I mean, it's a story that has stayed with me since I first read it. And I only tell the truth when it comes to my reviews. Heh.
As for the Who, I think I enjoyed it. I wasn't knocked out by it, and I'm getting a little tired of having to pick through the piles to find the good stuff. Still, there were good thing, good pieces of acting, good pieces of concept in there.
no subject
Date: Saturday, 1 November 2014 11:53 pm (UTC)But an opportunity to go through the favs at Teaspoon is always awesome. *Smiles*
I'm also looking forward to Hearts and Moons - think we all have WIP O'Doom, so tis all good, lovie. Patience has its own rewards.
Keeping my fingers crossed during this transition, sweetie...
*HUGS*
no subject
Date: Sunday, 2 November 2014 12:48 am (UTC)Still haven't delved deep enough, but I'll get there tomorrow, I hope.
Sometimes I think it would be worth it for all of us with works in progress o'doom to swap ours out with someone else's, and see if we couldn't do something with the story we get. At the very least, perhaps we'd go "Oh, no, NO, you can't DO that to my characters!" when we see what someone else has done, and it would get us off our writer's block. Heh.
no subject
Date: Sunday, 2 November 2014 05:14 am (UTC)*Grins*
no subject
Date: Sunday, 2 November 2014 12:00 am (UTC)Did I miss a post with the Most Excellent News (aka the Halloween treat) that your Best Beloved received yesterday? (At least I think he received the news then; I called while sitting on the Cliff Walk in front of The Breakers (the Vanderbilt Mansion) in Newport & he mentioned having just heard.)
no subject
Date: Sunday, 2 November 2014 03:19 pm (UTC)Did I miss a post with the Most Excellent News
You've not missed anything at all, largely because I hadn't posted about it. The news is good, but I was just telling Bob that I'm still not relaxed. I - we - still want to know what the hell is going on with him, and it's 11 days until we see the doctor to discuss what the results, or lack of results, actually mean. I know it seems unfeeling of me not to be jumping around in joy, and if you push me, I am glad that it's not cancer. To be otherwise would be ridiculous. But he's still sick, and we still want to know why./end worried rant.
no subject
Date: Sunday, 2 November 2014 12:59 am (UTC)I hope there aren't too many headaches at work as a result of the change in ownership.
no subject
Date: Sunday, 2 November 2014 03:21 pm (UTC)Re: Doctor
Date: Sunday, 2 November 2014 04:02 am (UTC)Re: Doctor
Date: Sunday, 2 November 2014 03:28 pm (UTC)Re: the spoilerific reveal and just with who he'd inadvertently tangled tonsils? Only for ethical reasons, not any others. Heh. I mean, think of The Corsair. "Oh, she was a bad girl!"
Re: Doctor
Date: Sunday, 2 November 2014 05:03 pm (UTC)Re: Doctor
Date: Sunday, 2 November 2014 06:47 pm (UTC)Not that I have any idea of what shades might be better. Possibly One of the royal Henry or Edwards and the shades of those they loved and destroyed.
no subject
Date: Sunday, 2 November 2014 09:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Sunday, 2 November 2014 03:24 pm (UTC)I thinking that it won't go smoothly at all, given how quickly the transaction was worked out, but we'll work at making it as bump free as possible for our members and, with any luck, for the rest of the employees.
no subject
Date: Sunday, 2 November 2014 05:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Sunday, 2 November 2014 06:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Sunday, 2 November 2014 05:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Sunday, 2 November 2014 06:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Sunday, 2 November 2014 09:39 pm (UTC)*crosses many fingers and toes*
Best not to do that while going out, though! ;-p