Just a MoJo

Well here we are again, I published my last post as I found my way into the job market, and I write again happily employed.

Here is a quick update:
I Graduated in August, then hit the ground running. In October I had to start paying rent again, so I decided to kick my job at Joseph A. Bank. It couldn’t have been better timing. My boss was a total jerk, my schedule was never the same, and I was being taken advantage of.

Many Applications Three Interviews
I applied for six or seven jobs at Baylor, all of which I was fully qualified for, and of which I only had one interview, and that was after I did some pushing pointing out that they had to interview me. Essentially, I was jerked around by HR. I must have shown in their system as a student rather than a graduate, even still, according to their rules I should have been considered for all of the positions. So, they interviewed me for Admissions Counselor, but I’m 99% sure they had already made their decision.
On July first, I applied for an emergency position as Camping Sales Associate at Academy Sports. - That’s when I posted the last post, to let them know that I actually camp.

I kept working at terrible Joseph A. Bank until sometime in October, the 14th I think. Thats when I told Carl to pay me more or I was out the door. To date, Charlos has hired six replacements for me, way to go bossman.

Working in TV
I was having no luck finding a reasonable full time job, So  Andy suggested that I use my degree and do something in journalism. I said, “hey, I’ve done radio, I want to move up!” I made a few packages, mailed a few resume tapes, but nothing came together. Then in week four of unemployment, I interviewed for New Media Content Director at the local ABC Affiliate. The interview went well, It seemed like a perfect fit, Journalism and Web? Lets roll. They offered, I took, paychecks ensue.

church, more than an hour a week, you’ve got to be kidding!
No! I’ve been elected to the PNC- Pastor Nominating Committee, be an Usher, joined the choir and helped start a Sunday school class. The PNC is by far the most time consuming, but I enjoy it, even though it requires so many minute details. Our SS class, dubbed taco Ministries, cooks breakfast tacos before fellowship every sunday.

I’m sure there is more, but now, its time to go.

What happens when you release two media savvy guys into the heart of the West Texas Desert?

In short, it was a trip of thrilling surprises. During the drive from Waco to Big Bend, we were excited, it made the long drive seem like a drive across town.

When we got to the national park, it was full, no kidding, all of the camp sites were taken! We had two choices, load up our gear and hike off into the unfamiliar desert or hop back into the car, go over some mountains to Big Bend Ranch, State Park.

Andy and I typically fly by the seat of our pants when it comes to things like this, but randomly hiking in the desert seemed like a good way to get killed by a Javelina or a mountain lion. Off to Big Bend Ranch we went.

We selected a camp site about 50 feet from Mexico and set out to cross the Rio Grande. Apparently, randomly crossing into Mexico is not legal, nor did the stepping stones provide us a pathway into Mexico.

After making fishing spears and spending several hours trying to impale our dinner, we gave up and hungrily returned to camp and made Fajitas.

After Fajitas we decided we would join those around us and make a fire. bear Grylls makes it seem a lot easier than it was! After an hour or striking our knives on flints, a few sparks but no fire.

Having marginal success with fire building, we turned to dessert, pudding cups. However, during the middle of my chocolate cup, severe wind arose and a dust storm blew over the ridge above us and covered us in a film of desert sand.

Seasoned Campers will tell you that the only thing to do is to climb into your tent and wait the storm out. So, into our tents we went. Andy had yet to rig his rainfly so his cleanliness was no match for the fierce dust storm. My tent, yellow one above, is not aerodynamic in the least. As I sat in my tent, I was beaten by the sides of my tent, each one taking its turn throwing itself at me, my tent went from 10 square feet to about one in seconds.

Waiting for the storm to subside, my sleep deficit caught up with me.

When I Awoke the next morning, I poked my head out of the tent, Andy’s tent had collapsed on him during the night, after helping him sort out the situation, I got up and and took in my surroundings:

That, my friends is nature! Mexico is on the left, and the Glorious US of A is on the right.

After another day of hiking, practicing survival skills, Andy and I set off for Alpine, Texas. Home of Penny’s Diner. And then, Mustang Island, by way of San Antonio.

Patrick Tolbert Live from the New Road Inn

The Waco Fire Department responded to the New Road Inn around 2:30 p.m. on a report that a vehicle crashed into the motel’s office.

It took firefighters several minutes to respond because there was some miscommunication about the motel’s address.

When firefighters arrived on the scene, there were reports that the driver was trapped inside of the truck, the rescue crews worked quickly to remove the driver from the truck before it caught fire.

The driver was transported by ETMC to the hospital and his condition was not available at the time of press.

The truck appears to have been going the wrong way on the access road when it jumped the curb to avoid on coming traffic and drove through the hotel’s office witnesses said.

“It appears as if he accelerated as he skidded out of the crass and onto the hotel property,” said Assistant Fire Chief Joseph Molina.

“Several witnesses described the truck’s driver as being ‘on something’ and Waco police did find alcohol inside of the truck,” Molina said. He was unable to comment as to whether or not it was an open container of alcohol.
There was no significant structural damage to the building and fire officials say that the hotel will remain open for business through the night.

Tadaah

Traditionalists will tell you that you should print news papers for them. But, that too is a problem. >You would be competing with state run media that has the best access to state sources and unlimited state funding.

When the British gave Ghana, their former colony, its independence in YEAR, a Ghana Broadcasting Corporation was set up. It is modeled after the BBC with newscasts at the top of each hour and entertainment programming in between. Only a hand full of Ghanaians could access the media through broadcast channels so a host of independent newspapers hit the presses.

If you’re looking to go into the printing business in Ghana, be sure to keep reading, all news print in the country must be purchased from a central governmental agency. This agency dishes out different paper’s alotments based on circulation. And, say if the government did not like the story you ran about them last month, your next month’s alotment of newsprint may never be delivered.

In order to fight the lack of newsprint, the independent papers have teamed up and decided that a different paper would be published each day. Under the agreement, the independent paper gain all of the single-copy sales by independent paper readers each day. Therefore, there is one large independent paper to compete with the state run paper The Daily Graphic, each day of the week.

Drivers who run red lights in Waco may soon be captured on cameras and might face stiff fines.

The Waco City Council heard a presentation on red light photo enforcement within the city Tuesday afternoon.
Chris Taylor of the City’s legal services department said that the goal of the program is the preservation of life and the reduction of injuries in automobile collisions. In his presentation, Taylor emphasized the point that the cameras were not an attempt to raise City revenue.

“This is not an attempt to increase the City’s revenue stream,” Taylor said, “but is an attempt to try to preserve life.”

Taylor explained to the council members that the red light camera process is made up of several elements. When the light turns red, any cars in the intersection will trigger sensors in the pavement which will then set off the camera capture system.

“It works like a parking ticket, since there is no way to tell who the driver was, we send the citation to the vehicle’s registered owner.”

“The cameras will then take several pictures of the car in question but not the driver” Taylor emphasized. City officials will then examine each series of pictures for the violation to determine if a violation actually occurred.

A citation letter explaining the violation will be sent to the address of the vehicle’s registered owner, much like the city’s parking violation process.

Opponents of the red light photo enforcement program say that this system is inaccurate because the citation is sent to the vehicle’s owner rather than the driver who committed the violations.

Taylor spoke about the argument by explaining that the citation is a civil citation rather than a criminal citation, so no arrest warrant would be issued if the fine went unpaid.

The council decided to hold off on further discussion of the issue until current legislation in Austin runs the red tape marathon.

According to Senate bill 120 that passed in Austin on Tuesday, cities with red light photo enforcement programs must share 50 percent of its revenues with the State.

Current state law neither allows nor prohibits red light photo enforcement.

How often have you been sitting on a full flight with two screaming children, one in front of you and the other kicking the back of your seat? Well, the designers and engineers who inaugurated the “cruise ship of the sky,” Airbus’ new A380, hope that you will be able forget about screaming children and enjoy yourself on the $319 million airliner. Keep reading →

Tax payers may soon have the option to give more money to the government to increase competition and fairness in the 2012 presidential campaign.

Legislation was introduced in Washington on Jan. 30 by congressmen from both sides of the aisle and seeks to strengthen the presidential public financing system to account for the modern presidential campaign.

“This legislation is a small but necessary investment to protect our democracy and preserve the integrity of our presidential elections,” said Senator Russ Feingold, D-Wis. Keep reading →

Updated 2.2.07 @ 18:00GMT

By Patrick Tolbert

With his presidency in the home stretch, Chirac plays both sides of the Iranian nuclear situation.

The president’s last words are usually meant to set the record straight on his official positions. Yet, French President Jacques Chirac’s words leave the international media wondering.

Mr. Chirac officially flip-flopped his position on a nuclear Iran on Thursday. The President’s office released an official statement that directly contradicted an interview he gave on Monday. Keep reading →