More Recession....

I am so proud of how Americans are learning to watch their pennies. Not all of us. Not the ones still employed with top-dollar paychecks. But lots of people who didn't use to look at their credit card bills are now examining them closely. And people who seemed to think they were too good to ask why they were charged for three cans of soup when they only bought two, are starting to reconnect. They're actually paying attention to grocery prices and watching every move made by the friendly grocery clerk.

Yes, I still have some friends who can't be bothered to return expired dairy products or go over their checking accounts online, but they are further apart and fewer between these days.

The Washington Post this weekend delivers up this article on how to negotiate a severance package. That's what's called being "timely" on the weekend after the government reports the sky-high unemployment rate at 9.7% nationally.

It's time to think thin. Thin income. Thin wallets. Thinning savings accounts, if you are fortunate to have gone into the recession with a nest egg.

I'm sort of proud of the way some people are handling it all. After years of being lazy, snobbish, prissy and proud, they are starting to get it. They've told their kids "no" when they ask for the latest version of "Playstation," and stayed home for dinner more than one night per month. Who knows what's next? Possibly there's a market for classes on reintroducing conversation at American dinnertables.

Anyway, the same weekend editions also point out that nest eggs are taking a hit. Considering that the average American household began the recession with $11,000 in credit card debt (since I don't have any, I'm guessing there's a household in a lot of pain somewhere), these would be the better stories.

They say that signs of the recovery are being seen. But so far, it's a "jobless recovery," where employers aren't starting to hire back furloughed employees. Instead, they are asking the workers they have to do more. Sometimes for the same price; and sometimes, for less.

We're all going to learn to be very grateful for the good parts of our lives during this downturn. We're going to learn to be happy with what we have. That as I said in an earlier post, "three forks are enough." And that more than one, on many things, is just something to stash in the closet or dust down the line.

We will learn. And maybe sometime soon, we'll learn to smile again. Until then, it pays to learn to watch your wallet and negotiate. And to enjoy it.

Good-bye Michael Jackson, Hello Media Mob!

So there I was, sitting at home, quietly writing *yet another* essay on why Republican politicians need to learn to keep it zipped, when I got distracted by some real work. Suddenly, I was whisked away from the tedium to a house in Holmby Hills, followed by a trip to Grauman's Chinese Theater, before finishing up at the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office. All in pursuit of covering Michael Jackson's demise and the resulting investigation for ABC News. A rather densely packed 12 hours, huh?

It was so much fun that I did it twice. Well, okay, the second day was spent all in one location: the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Yikes! What a pretentious name.

Lots of live shots. Lots of crazy folks. Lots of fun. And lots of pictures snapped. Here's the one I have to show you:


Yes, that is my extremely white arm, frame left, two-thirds of the way up. Pathetic, huh?

I'm having a touch of computer trouble (Laptop with dvd but no internet. PC with internet but no dvd. Why me?) and at this time can provide only one photo, swiped from LATimes.com.

I had a seriously great time. The best thing about such national news events is that in between the demanding clients, the completely fascinating weirdness of a life lived "Jackson," and all the nutty fans, such events are wonderful places to see professional friends, console each other about the state of the business and hear the latest goings-on at various news groups around town.

In this particular case, it was hard to hear that KTTV (Fox 11 in Los Angeles) laid off over 100 people on Friday. You can't see him, but a favorite investigative reporter friend from that station was standing to my left (which is his favorite position on any given subject) and I am hopeful for his future even though I've heard KTTV is offering contract renewals with 30-40 percent pay cuts.

We all know it's a tough time among journalists. Heck, it's tough for almost everyone. And it can seem strange to people outside our ranks when major news events, often tragic in nature, bring us together to support each other about things entirely unrelated to the events at hand. We tend to focus on the event as news, and in between chasing the story, talk over what's bothering us.

But it is part of what makes us objective. It can also sometimes make people think we're a little jaded and at times, downright calloused. Yet I hope that it's a tradition that never has a chance to disappear.