Today I accomplished two tasks. I did not have to do a story for C-Ville Weekly so I had only my own work to do. I don't have to turn a story in to them until January 2, 2026, and I already know what I will try to write. More on that publication at the moment.
I got up at sunrise again and managed to walk a mile before beginning work. That can ground me. Days in which I do that are much better. I'm up to 4.1 miles as I begin to type this reflection.
The first task was to completed a podcast. I have begun doing those on Mondays as a way of getting out links to individual stories on Information Charlottesville. Most of the audience reads rather than listens, but I don't want to stop doing audio production. So perhaps I can rebrand the Monday podcast differently and maybe make it into something that starts the week, so to speak. Right now it needs some more definition.
But to do that I needed to update two different stories that went out in Friday's edition. At this moment I don't even entirely remember what they were so I'll paste them here as well.
- Free parking in downtown garages through December 25 as city transitions to AI-powered entry
- Board of Visitors name Dean of Darden Business School as next president
It took about three hours or so to process both of those stories, with the first one including the time I took to do the production. I think a lot about how I would like to get back to a process where I produce the print and audio editions at the same time. I believe there is value to those pieces that I could perhaps market to other outlets. Or, I could create versions for them based on the same production file. There are a lot of possibilities.
Then it took another two hours to finish the podcast. I then cross-posted it to the Charlottesville Podcasting Network. Remember that site? To save some money, I am thinking of transferring the Charlottesville Quarantine Report to the site. This would entail creating a page on the site to archive it all. I pay $15 a month now for the service and it would be a good task that might teach me some skills.
I took a break to go to the store to get groceries. I had just enough money in my checking account to cover the amount. There's a great need to shore up the business that makes all of this run.
Before I went to the store, I wrote the first of two segments for the newsletter. And then I got back and wrote a longer account of a City Council meeting about affordable housing. The shorter account will be in C-Ville Weekly one day soon.
Along the way I also invoiced one of my sponsors. And I realize that I need to make sure that I pay attention to the business of the whole thing during this holiday period. This is a good time to shore up what I am doing while also continuing with the production.
And right now I am about to do whatever I do next. I have an interest in getting to work on the next newsletter and making sure I can make the next two weeks the most productive they can be.
I chose this strange life a long time ago. As the person living it, I'm very satisfied. I know that I outwardly portray otherwise at times but these are the holidays and my gift at the moment is to express gratitude I'm able to do the work.
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