Random words of wisdom..

What's truly important to you?? what do you care about the most in life? Have you ever lied to yourself, trying to think you know whats best for you when you know it's not the truth.

Do you ever feel like the world is playing tricks on you???

Why is it in life we're always so quick to ignore what we really care about..

around the corner there's an entire world of new people, places, and things we've never seen before. Life is an adventure we've all been forced into taking. What path will you take, where will you go and where will you end up, it's all up to you. The important thing that you have to remember is to never give up. No matter how hard of a struggle it is, and beyond all else make sure you really know what is truly important to you. Just follow your heart and all your dreams will come true. If you don't believe it, well, you might just be lying to yourself.

Profile Story.

I really don't have a solid idea on who I'm going to interview for my profile piece. I might try to get a hold of David Lindel who runs "Camp David" recording studios. Davids recorded bands from all over Oregon and Washington, some artists he's recorded like Broadway Calls are even gaining national recognition right now. Camp David started out as an in home recording studio David started using his computer and some microphones out of his moms garage in Philomath. He soon moved into a storage unit in Corvallis where he recorded many bands. After a few years in Corvallis he took the studio up to Portland where he still runs it today. It might be kind of hard for me to get interviews with him living in Portland and that's why this profile might not work out for the minute but if it does work out it'd sure make a good one.

Record Store Day

On April 18 independently owned record stores all over the US will be celebrating the third annual Record Store Day. Record Store Day is a day when bands and musical artists come together with independently owned record stores to honor the unique culture that surrounds them.

Some of the things we can expect to see this Saturday in celebration of Record Store Day is the special release of vinyl and CD’s; only to be carried by participating record stores, and lots of musical performances from various bands all over the country.

Record Store Day was first thought up by Chris Brown and founded by Eric Levin, Michael Kurtz, Carrie Colliton, Amy Dorfman, Don Van Cleave, and Brian Poehner in 2007.

According to www.recordstoreday.com stores participating must consist of at least 50% music retail, and 70% of the stores ownership must be located in the state of operation. “We’re dealing with real, live, physical, indie [independently owned] stores-not online retailers or corporate behemoths,” said the web site.

Happy Trails is a local and independently owned record store in Corvallis looking forward to getting special releases from The Smiths, Bob Dylan, Jane’s Addiction, King Crimson, Wilco, and many more participating artists. “It’s just nice to offer something that you can’t get anywhere else,” said storeowner Doug DiCarolis. “The releases are strictly limited, they’re only printing a few, and they’re only going to places like this.”

Happy Trails has been in business for over 35 years and has been keeping up with the times while making sure to keep that old record store spirit. The shelves are filled with CD’s and DVD’s, and right up front are a number of bins filled with brand new and used vinyl. “Most of the stuff being released is on vinyl. That I’m excited about; how they emphasize the vinyl party” said DiCarolis in reference to the special releases his store is getting in.

While it may not be the biggest thing to look forward too, Record Store Day is there to honor those who work hard, and struggle to survive in an industry slowly being taken over by corporations and online media. According to Doug DiCarolis owner of Happy Trails Records, “You need to support places like this in times like these or we just won’t be here.” So get out there to your local independently owned record store and show some support so we can have something to look forward too for Record Store Days in many years to come.

Stimulating our economy while improving our school

We all know there’s been a lot of construction going around on campus. A lot of us are quick to judge the long detours and constant beeping but few are actually aware of the improvements taking place.

Administrative Assistant Ali Gray for one is “stoked.” “There building our new building, a lot of people that work here are excited about it.”said Gray in reference to the science department. That explains the construction that’s been going on through out this school year.

The new construction that started early last week is part of a Governor awarded stimulus package granted to the school. According to Gary Ruppert, dean of arts & letters, the money isn’t just to improve the school but to keep the economy going as well. “It is putting people to work.” said Rupert.

The construction will continue through out and after the school year starting at the College Center and working its way clockwise around campus.

According to Fred Haynes, dean of Engineering and industrial technology, the governor gave us about 2 million dollars that will be used for putting in new lights, Ceiling Files, installing energy saving walls, replacing transformers, paving the walkways and much more. Haynes said, “in some cases there will be minor inconvenience for students.”

Some student classrooms and instructors offices will be temporarily moved, and we’ll have to continue to put up with loud noise and construction crews. But Haynes insists that if we watch out to stay safe and keep an open mind about the Construction it will pay off.

Next story...

So last night a friend of mine got arrested in Corvallis for J-walking. I wanted to do a story about this but I can't really do an adequate news story without blasting out opinions so i think I'll save that one for a blog post/opinion piece. I bet you didn't know that April 18th is National Record Store Day!! I think I'm going to do my story on this. I plan on talking to my Buddy's at Happy Trails again, I'm not positive who my other sources will be but I'm sure I'll figure it out. Rock on, and a happy early Record Store day to all!!!

NEWS and REPORTING Story#1 Stimulas Construction on Campus

The story I’m working on is about construction accruing campus as part of a stimulus package awarded to the by the Governor. So far in preparation for this story I’ve talked to a couple people. The key guy was Fred Haynes, The dean of engineering and industrial technology. Fred was important in gathering the facts about what is actually going on. He’s the one that sent the email/press release with the bulk of the information. I also talked to a Lady who works in the science department, unfortunately I forgot my notes over at a buddy’s house so I don’t have her name at the second, but as we all know as for construction goes the science department has been next to a total war zone of jackhammers and nail guns. Witch is why I was pleasantly surprised to find that she was all for the benefits of the construction taking place. “Their building our new Science Building” she exclaimed. She referred me to another person she believes I should interview about the situation, once again the name is temporarily misplaced in my notes but I’m pretty sure his first name was Dan. Unfortunately Dan isn’t going to be in until sometime Thursday and of course the story is due Wednesday, but I still plan on getting an interview with him and finding some information to make my story’s final cut.
As far as my story goes I’ve got all the information I need to at least lead off to a good start. That’s the problem with me and story’s though is getting them started. Sometimes I start over and over. It’s all about finding myself in the right place with the right mindset. Sometimes it’s even easier to start from the middle or end. The trick for me is to just get something written down that I feel comfortable with. I guess you could call it a foundation. I need a foundation for my Story, and once I pave that worded concrete. My story will build itself from there like nothing else.