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November 3, 2001 - Saturday (oops--first edition said "Friday"--shows what I know)
Poor Axel. He's been one of our regular morning dogs who gets walked every morning up and down the beach as part of his new weight loss regimen. But he's on medical leave after an apparently serious ear infection caused other problems.
The report yesterday was that he's on antibiotics, has had part of his neck shaved where he had scratched it raw, and has taken to climbing into the bath tub to console himself.
Hey, Axel, we're all rooting for you!
Mr. Axel, a Kaaawa dogThere's a story going 'round of about the recent adventure of a former Hawaii Newspaper Agency advertising account exec who now works for the Star-Bulletin. Seems that he heard of the retirement of a former coworker, and dropped in on the little retirement reception being held up in the former cafeteria on the third floor of the Honolulu Advertiser's building, Apparently when Gannett managers saw him, they called security and had the guards throw him out onto the street.
"You're not allowed to enter the building," was the message, loud and clear.
I guess management of the newspaper attempting to claim a local identity haven't heard of the islands' worldwide reputation for hospitality and graciousness.
A computer glitch at the service hosting this page wouldn't allow me to update at the normal time this morning. Sorry for the delay. Here's the entry that was written about 11 hours ago.
There were several rainy mornings in Kaaawa this week.
One of the state's dengue squads was also in the neighborhood, and ended up puzzled by a concentration of mosquitos just two houses away. They couldn't come up with a clear explanation despite extensive searching and calling in a supervisor. Luckily, we haven't had many of the biting bugs at our place, perhaps because we're more exposed to the winds. We would all be happy to see this dengue outbreak fade.
I had a lunch meeting yesterday, and one of those attending is an electrical engineer with his own firm. He described a very positive experience with classified ads in the Star-Bulletin, which he said have produced surprisingly strong responses.
He's convinced that anyone looking for a job, a home or apartment, or something to buy will pick up both the S-B and Advertiser, so there's no reason to pay the Advertiser's premium rates, and that he won't ever do it again.
It's the kind of experience that will be crucial to the long-term survival of the Star-Bulletin.
I was surprised yesterday to get a belated $100 check from Brill's Content for a photo used in their story on the Honolulu newspaper war. So if it doesn't bounce, I'll have to retract my comment about being a victim of the dot.com collapse.
Spotted last night while channel surfing--former Star-Bulletin editorial page editor Diane Chang interviewing the city's medical examiner on Hawaii Public Television's "Island Insights". I don't see any information on the program on the station's web site, so can't tell if this was a special appearance or something more. Stay tuned.Two Star-Bulletin sports staffers jumped on me for Tuesday's comment that longtime writer Bill Kwon was "not invited on board the new Star-Bulletin". Not true, they say. According to their account, he was offered several choices, and offered a chance to design a position to his own liking, but instead Bill betrayed his colleagues and cut a deal with the other side while negotiations were still underway, and despite their best efforts to carve out a position to his liking.
Here's Sjarif Goldstein's account of what happened:
Once it was clear I was going to work in sports, sports editor Cindy Luis and I asked John Flanagan what Bill's status was, basically whether he was going to be let go. Flanagan said they were waiting for Bill to tell them whether he wanted to continue working or take a buyout. Cindy said that even she had trouble getting Bill to return her calls.Somehow I was able to catch Bill at home that day by phone and arranged for Cindy and me to meet with him at the old offices the following afternoon. We showed Bill my design for a new weekly golf page (initially titled "Bill Kwon's Golf World") and made it clear beyond a doubt that we wanted him to stay with the paper and that it could be with whatever workload he was comfortable with -- anything from full time work (including continuing his column and golf coverage) to retiring and just covering golf (including travel expenses) on a contract basis. He went up to human resources to find out what his retirement situation was (something the people in charge of hiring for the new Star-Bulletin had been waiting months for him to do.) and came back and told us he wanted to retire and work part time just covering golf and writing a weekly golf column.
We mentioned some numbers as far as what we were willing to pay per piece and for travel and he said they sounded about right. We agreed that he and I would both come up with proposals that would mention specific golf tournaments he would cover and how much he would be paid, as well as how much he would receive for each column and for travel expenses.
I went back and told Flanagan what happened and he was happy to finally have the situation resolved. We tossed some figures around and he left me to crunch the numbers for my proposal. I came up with a figure that afternoon and Flanagan approved it. The next day I tried to reach Bill but he didn't return my call. Cindy saw him at work and he said he'd have his proposal to us by the end of the week. His proposal was key because he had a far better idea than I which golf tournaments had to be covered and to what extent. The end of the week came and he still didn't have a proposal for us. The following week, Cindy called me and told me Bill had just told her he was still retiring but had decided to take his services to the Advertiser instead. I was stunned. Cindy and I both felt lied to. We had walked away form our meeting with Bill convinced that Bill was staying with the S-B and that, most importantly, he would be working in the role that would make him happiest.
I don't discount or disbelieve this version of that painful period prior to the March 15 sale of the Star-Bulletin. Overlooked, however, is that underlying sense of betrayal felt when months of management assurances that all jobs were safe and "interviews" only a formality turned out to be shibai. Management pressure to retire was also reported by others.
I don't pretend to know the whole story. But this insider's account adds another interesting bit to the record.
Happy Halloween. I overslept a bit this a.m., but will try to recover.The Advertiser has a story online this morning concerning the latest circulation figures of the two Honolulu dailies. The numbers are close to those thrown around recently. Most surprising is the relatively low sales of the Sunday Star-Bulletin, essentially the same as daily numbers. That has to hurt.
I'll check the Star-Bulletin later to see if they've got a version of this story available.
Word about Advertiser reassignments continues to trickle out. The public money/public corruption beat was reportedly awarded to newcomer Johnny Brannon (apparently known to some in their newsroom as "Johnny Bravo"). The urban Honolulu beat went to James Gonser. Dan Nakaso will be covering OHA, and Tanya Bricking will be writing features.
It had to happen sooner or later.
We found a glass ball earlier this week, the first such find in about three years. It's been a long drought. The find came after a high tide and after several days of high surf, and we were lucky enough to be the first to run into it.
There were a few double-takes when an updated phone list was distributed in the Star-Bulletin's newsroom. The list was arranged alphabetically by first names, and up near the top, among the B's, was Bill--Kwon. Had one of the writers in exile returned? Kwon, of course, was one of those not invited on board the new Star-Bulletin back in March, and crossed over to observe the golf scene for the rival Honolulu Advertiser. But it turned out to be a clerical error and not an unexpected announcement of Kwon's return.Speaking of unexpected announcements, word of new Advertiser beat assignments is slowly trickling out as reporters let regular sources know of their new assignments. Up at the University of Hawaii, word was going around that reporter Jennifer Hiller "lost" the higher education beat and will be moving over to cover K-12 education instead, while current education reporter Alice Keesing goes who knows where.
Star-Bulletin writer Burl Burlingame sees the reshuffling benefiting the S-B, at least in the short run, because it will take some time for Advertiser reporters to build relationships with a new set of sources, and gain experience and perspective in their newly assigned beats.
Spotted over the weekend--That's Ms. Harry, standing on the front deck railing, with the chicken formerly known as "baby" down on the ground.
Harry had been chicken watching before the camera interrupted, a favorite pastime. She likes to chase chickens as well, causing screetching and flapping at strange times. Most of the other cats are afraid of the chickens, who can be quite mean. Not Harry & Lizzie, who are both known to take a run at one of the big birds from time to time.
Harry & chickenAnd, finally, the last word on the Turducken recipes comes from Maui: "Ian, I'm not eating ANYTHING with a name that starts with 'Turd.' "
Another mark of progress. The Star-Bulletin's Sunday real estate pages recently transitioned to a separate full-size section from it's previous tabloid format. I can't tell whether the move reflects an actual increase in the amount of advertising, or a move to make it more attractive to potential advertisers. To my untrained eye, it still seems a bit slim on regular meat & potatoes real estate listings.And I still miss that Sunday CompUSA ad, apparently only available in the Advertiser.
Two dozen Star-Bulletin newsroom staffers dropped by Murphy's on Friday night to bid aloha to former webmeister Blaine Fergerstrom.
The post-game football crowd also poured in, and the place was packed.
Blaine reports that he was there until 1:30 a.m., and a few hardy types were still partying.
Several Turducken advocates commented on my recent musings over this strange concoction. Here's one from former Hawaii resident Mary Ann Brunson:Regarding your comments on the turducken this past Friday, I just had to chip in and say that I made one of these two or three weeks ago. Well, I made an abbreviated version, anyway...the Turken! Just a turkey and a chicken to see how it would go and if I could really make a turducken for Thanksgiving.It turned out well, and I suggest you try it for yourself someday when you have a lot of time for the de-boning of the birds. My effort, and result are at: http://www.lemuridae.net/sweetload/2001/10/20011011.html
And from my friend Marnie, now recovering from surgery:
Most sources seem to credit Paul Prudhomme with the Turducken.Cajuns are not squeamish about food, but they ARE creative. Only a creative culture could turn crawfish into a delicacy. Or deep-fry an entire turkey in the backyard. If you think about it, Turducken is an amazing dish, artistic in presentation and clever in its combination of flavors, relatively inexpensive and feeds an army at a sitting.
Chef Paul Prudhomme's Magic Seasoning Blends (PP's recipe for TDK)
Illustrated Turducken Recipe (link may take a few attempts, but the page is there)
And my apologies to the person hoped to put the turducken image out of her mind:
.. I first heard about, then saw this concept played out before my very eyes on Emeril Live a few years ago. It was disturbing yet I couldn't turn away. (I'm not a fan of duck-meat.)I thought I had successfully blocked it out of my consciousness -- and then I get the bright idea to catch up on my "ilind reading."
Gee, thanks. =)
Sorry. Again.
There was huge winter surf along our shore yesterday, and the sound of the surf is still booming this morning. There was also heavy rain on and off during the day, prompting me to switch back to the "winter" image at the top of this page (compare to the "summer" version in use up through last week).With the FCC considering whether to order Emmis Communications to divest itself of one of the television stations it owns here (KHON or KGMB), recent signals coming from FCC Commissioner Michael Powell take on added significance. Powell has been letting the world know that he favors a "full review" of media regulation, including dropping the current rules that restrict cross-ownership of newspapers and broadcast stations in the same market. If this rule is dumped, it would become possible for Gannett to buy one of the stations from Emmis and add another level of cross-marketing to its arsenal. There are probably a lot of people quietly following the FCC moves in anticipation of their potential impact on the newspaper war here in Honolulu.
These are the latest additions to my small collection of Treasure Craft. These were rescued from thrift stores in and around Kent, Washington, while Meda was at a conference this past week. She managed to hook up with an old friend of ours for a run through the area's thrift stores on her one free day before the conference.
A lot of people think Treasure Craft is gross and tacky, but I love the multicolored glazes.
The piece on the right was made on Maui, but the one on the left isn't marked.
Click for larger photoNew photos have been posted to the Photo Gallery.
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