Obama post gets blogger national time

On Oct. 9, Rathdrum’s Dogwalk Musings explained on her home computer “Why I’m for Obama.” Seems she was impressed by something Michelle Obama said in an interview with Larry King re: that presidential debate question fielded by her hubby: “What don’t you know?” Quoth Dogwalk: “She turned serious after a few quick quips and said, basically, Barack knows what he doesn’t know and surrounds himself with those who can educate him. In other words he doesn’t surround himself with ‘yes’ men. That is important to me.”

So why do a few cyber paragraphs typed a month ago or so amount to much here? Well, Dogwalk’s post was picked up by the Web site of the Chicago Times, Obama’s hometown paper, and Reuters. In September, Dogwalk joined a blog aggregator that collects material to be posted online for the Times, Reuters and Computer World. At least 10 of her posts landed on these major Web sites. “Why I’m for Obama” collected more than 16,000 page-views. Which thrilled Dogwalk, a long-time contributor at Huckleberries Online. She told Huckleberries: “I always feel good when one of my posts is picked up in a locale other than my own, but to have this particular one picked up by a Chicago paper (that) close to the election was exciting. It’s no big deal in the grand scheme of things but it’s a little sign of recognition and that keeps blogging fun.” Dogwalk Musings is one of the 60 million citizen bloggers who make a difference.

Grapefruit, anyone?

Put yourself in Angela Rickens shoes, for a moment. You’re an administrative assistant minding a law office when the phone rings. You respond, “Thank you for calling the law office …” But you’re cut off before you finish “… of Scott Ireland.” A man’s voice asks, “How do you cut a grapefruit?” Now, I doubt that Angela’s professional training prepared her for that question. But her common sense did. After pausing to regroup, so she wouldn’t laugh at the culinarily handicapped caller, she told him to cut the grapefruit in half (from the middle, not the stemmed ends), and use a serrated knife to cut out the sections in the halves. After a few moments of awkward silence, the caller said, “Uh, thanks,” and hung up. Angela wondered if she’d fielded a crank call. But she enjoyed the chuckle and then shared the tale at Huckleberries Online. Which prompted Berry Picker MamaJD to recall a guy she dated in college. Who didn’t know you needed to cut and segment a grapefruit in half. “He “thought they came that way naturally,” MamaJD said. “It never occurred to him that his mother (had done) all the work.” Which prompted MamaJD to broom Mama’s Boy. In her case, a grapefruit grew from a seed into a breakup.

Huckleberries

Poet’s Corner: The Puritans were pious folk/and they wore quaint hats and britches;/they’d pray all Sunday at their church/and on Monday burn some witches – The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“New England History”) … For those keeping score, and County Clerk Dan English was, election poll workers processed 8,543 Election Day registrations – 5,539 new ones and 3,004 who had moved within the county but hadn’t re-registered. The new registered-voter count for the county is 78,909 … Josh Phelps, the ex-Lakeland High star, has been invited to spring training by the San Francisco Giants after hitting .291 with 31 homes and 97 RBIs with Triple-A Memphis in 2008. The Giants Web site said of Phelps: “Although Phelps isn’t the premier big bat the Giants seek, he could help them off the bench.” In eight Major League seasons, Phelps, 30, has hit .273 with 64 home runs and 244 RBIs.

Parting shot

Berry Picker Sam The Reporter saw red when he checked out the campaign Web site of U.S. Senator-elect Jim Risch over the weekend. Actually, he saw something worse – blue and orange. As in Boise State blue and orange. You see, Sam’s a University of Idaho grad. Yeah, yeah, the athletic fortunes of UI have been in the toilet since the Vandals switched from the Big Sky Conference to Division IA play. But that doesn’t mean that Sam wants to see BSU colors on Risch’s site. “How any self-respecting North Idahoan could vote for a man whose site/campaign colors are Boise State blue and orange is beyond me,” fumes Sam at Huckleberries Online. “You should all be ashamed. Someone should immediately begin a campaign demanding he get some Vandal black and gold involved in his U.S. Senate office and Web site. What a shame.” I verified that the site was blue and orange. By Monday, however, a user name and password was required for the first time to access it. Mebbe Risch got Sam’s message?