Friends

While I've been otherwise engaged, several of my former colleagues have started some very cool online ventures. Jonathan Weber, editor of the now defunct Industry Standard and before that tech editor at the LA Times, started New West, an online news venture covering the Rockies. New West, not to be confused with the late great California-based magazine of the same name, has bloggers in Missoula, Billings, Boise, Boulder and a couple other mountain cities. It was just nominated for a general excellence award by the Online News Association. Kevin Roderick, the Standard's former LA bureau chief started LA Observed, which has a stable of great writers blogging about all things related to LA media and is a fun way to keep tabs on what's up at the Times, OC Register, Los Angeles Magazine, etc.

Speaking of the Standard, you can't find back issues online anymore, but if you follow the link you'll see this cryptic message: "Coming Back." Is it?

HTML

I taught myself HTML in 1995 for one of my first freelance pieces. I learned enough of the basics to sound like I knew what I was talking about but then never really progressed beyond that. Flash forward a dozen years. Has it really been a dozen years? Services like MySpace, Facebook, Blogspot.com et al, make creating Web pages so easy you don't need to know anything about HTML. You almost don't need to read the instructions. My daughter created a blog about her life as a college freshman so she doesn't have to write home, or even call, and she manages to keep it going with only a few minutes' effort a day. I'm going back to work after a hiatus of 18 months but it feels more like years based on what's come out for keeping track of what you want to keep track of. The hardest part of putting a Web page together these days is deciding which service to use. Is a blog the best way to show the world my resume? Is one Web-based bookmark service better than another? Just like in 1995, I'm back at the bottom of the learning curve.

Under Construction

I'm slated to start working again on Oct. 1. and am starting to get my resume and clips online. This is a work in progress.