So yeah, I’m back. Let’s not make too big a deal out of it. I’m still working for Nieman Reports. I’m still bumming around Boston, though I now live in Somerville. I’ve officially owned this domain for more than a year, and I figured that it’s worth doing something with it again as long as I’m paying for it. My goal is to write some kind of essay at least every two weeks. Will I miss that? Most likely, but I think it’s important to have goals all the same.

In other news, the following things exist: seitzwrites.tumblr.com and twitter.com/seitzwrites. The former is going to be used for pictures and other random thoughts, while the latter will not be used, but is registered so that no one else can have it. I’m territorial like that.

Image via Metalsucks.net

So I took  a couple days off there, but I’m back with the cover art for the upcoming Skeletonwitch Album “Breathing the Fire,” which showed up on MetalSucks the other day. I’d lay more praise upon the band, but I think I already did that plenty a few months back. Besides, I think those guys already summed it up well enough for me.

Which brings me to my next point. I’ve been making that whole Google migration over the last couple of weeks, and I’m pretty damn impressed with all of it so far. In fact, I was completely blown away when I discovered Google Apps. It completely changed my whole concept of what Google has been doing, and frankly, I  think they’re on the right path.

The main idea is to use things like GMail and Google Docs for the Apps concept (basically it’s a way to load these online applications as if they were programs on the hard drive, not online), but Chrome lets you make an App out of anything. For instance, I’ve got the Wordpress Dashboard saved to my desktop as an App, so I can launch right into that and post updates any time I want (not that I use it that often, but still).

The other App that I’m big on now is the music player from Lala.com, which is pretty much the greatest site ever with the worst name ever. Basically, my music is almost all on the internet now, so I can listen wherever I want  (without needing the external hard drive to carry all 103 gigabytes). I highly recommend checking it out. I’m basically off of iTunes now, thanks to this. You can even buy web only songs for 10 cents each (I swear I don’t work for them).

Obviously, this isn’t actually that huge. I mean, essentially, it’s just a shortcut. But for some reason, looking at things this way makes so much more sense to me. Like I said, it’s about changing the way I use the internet.

Alright, this has been a pretty scatterbrained post so far. Thanks for bearing with me, but I think I’m just going to close it off here.

Aside from GMail, this is really my first foray into Google’s non-search features. I’ve alway been a little leery of their online based apps, though I honestly couldn’t tell you why. Things I save online are probably safer than on my 4-year-old laptop.

But I’m right in the process of downloading and setting up a lot more google-based software. I’m starting to realize that I might as well get onboard with what everyone else has already started doing.

There are two big reasons for this:

For one, I’m looking for a new computer. I might end up just getting a netbook, in which case I’ll need to rely more on online software and applications for this kind of stuff. Even if I don’t go the mini route, I’d still like to be up to date on what kind of technology is available before I start fresh on a new computer. It might help eliminate some of the unneccesary software that I usually end up downloading or installing.

The other big reason is my new job. We’re working on the fall issue now, and I’ve been fact checking articles that deal with things like “cloud computing” and other social media aspects. Basically, it got me realizing that, for as much as I profess to enjoy technology, I’m pretty much a year or two behind.

So my hope is that, bolstered by the Harvard money I’m going to be making, I can start catching back up with the rest of society on the hardware side. In the meantime I’ll work on picking up the pace with software.

Stay tuned…

At the risk of disparaging my previous employers, but wanting to explain my absense, let me just say that the newspaper gig crushed any desire I had to do extra writing. The fact that I’m not hunched over my keyboard writing up a meeting on deadline tonight is still freaking me out a little bit. But honestly, it was a fun job and I’m glad I did it. I honestly wouldn’t have quit if it weren’t for the new opportunity that showed up.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

What do I bring away from three months (honestly, it seemed a lot longer than that) in the fast-paced world of small town journalism? For one, I feel much more confident about my ability to work in this field. I was really never completely sure while in school, but just jumping right into it like I did was a great way to shock my reporting skills into action. The other thing, and this is something that I’ve heard about but never really believed in, is that I get a huge rush out of writing a good story. Part of it is the fact that I had competition (The Daily News Transcript), making it that much more enjoyable to get a big scoop (as much as those exist in Norwood). The other part is just watching all my thoughts coalesce into a coherent story. It’s tough to explain, but seeing the final output, and having it not suck, is just an awesome feeling.

The downside, though, was a seemingly endless string of late nights, along with  sitting through two hour meetings and getting nothing (which only happened a few times) and the pure aggravation of not being able to get the person I needed to talk to on the phone for days at a time. Oh, and the pay. That really killed the fun for me.

Although, Norwood was a great place to start my career. The people there were either crazy or brilliant at what they did, and there was no shortage of great quotes, characters and stories to cover. I realized, as my last two weeks ticked by, that everybody I dealt with on a regular basis had pretty much lived in town for their entire lives. Given that the average age of this group was definitely north of 50, I was just a blip on the radar to them. Kind of puts things in perspective, I guess.

So anyway, I’m now working for Harvard (technically as an independent consultant) at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism. I work normal, nine-to-five hours, and I get paid more, so I should be back onto this blogging business more often now. My last big hurdle is tracking down an apartment for the fall, but other than that, things are going well.

I’ll try to write more about the new job in the coming days, but for tonight I just wanted to pull a Favre and announce my unretirement. React accordingly.

Does anyone who a priest who’s certified to do electrical work? I’ll also settle for an electrician who can recite The Exorcist by heart, seeing as that’d probably be easier to come by.

(Sorry folks, I just haven’t had the time or energy to finish a full update in a while.)

So what have I been doing in the two weeks since I last wrote here? Well, if you read my last post, you probably have a pretty good idea of where I was and what I was doing, but I suppose some sort of follow up is order. So I’ll address my latest activities in a wholly arbitrary manner selected only to assert my editorial dominance.

First of all, I’m working full time (plus some) and, surprisingly, it takes more effort to write up a blog post after a day spent writing than it does after a day of doing nothing. I’m going to stick by my decision to not write about my job, suffice to say that it’s going well and I’m slowly getting back into the groove of writing news stories on a regular basis.

As a result of this, my long-gestating Phase II of the “I Hate Peter Travers” project will have to wait until I find the time/motivation to finish designing the website. Sorry to all those waiting on the IPO.

In fact, the only other writing I’ve been doing lately has been some PR stuff I did for my good friend and technological consultant, Paul Rausch, owner of Greenwire IT. Since I get a lot of hits from Florida, I figure it’s worth giving him an extra plug here as well. If you’re anywhere in the Southwest Florida Area, I cannot recommend this man enough. He helped me set up this site, and I’m willing to bet that he’s one of the only IT guys in the world who can set up your computer, cook you a delicious meal and educate you on the undertones of racism that fueled the Franco-Prussian war at the same time. And do it in your choice of four languages.

But since I’m now working full time in a town 30 minutes away, I also had to make my epic 1500+ mile road trip from Fort Myers to Boston, by way of Washington, DC. The first 1000 or so was done in one straight shot, by the end of which I was no longer able to hold a clear thought in my head. I was basically focusing everything on driving, especially during hour 14 when I was cruising through Richmond alongside every trucker on 95. Good Times.

By the way, Washington, DC is an awful driving city. I already hated rotaries, and I did not need to deal with DuPont circle after 16 hours on the highway.

I also got a chance to head up to Baltimore to see the Rays take on the Orioles. I was, of course, dissapointed to see the Rays lose, but Evan Longoria hit two home runs, so it was kind of worth it. Camden Yards is also the nicest stadium I’ve ever been to, especially with $6 admission on college night. To hell with all the tradition, they really need to rebuild Fenway so I can watch my out-of-town team in better comfort.

In other news, today was the Boston Marathon, which, in years past, would have meant drinking enough to make watching people run for hours interesting. Instead, I worked.

And finally, BU won the national championship. It was quite possibly the greatest single sporting event I’ve ever seen, much less attended. For those who don’t pay attention to such things, you missed out. Trailing 3-1 to Miami (Ohio) with a minute to go, the Terriers proceeded to rip of two goals, go into overtime, and win on as flukey a shot as I’ve ever seen. As is the custom around these parts I went out drinking in the same bar as the team after the game. Go me.

Fun fact: This was the fifth national championship won between UF and BU in the last four years. UF and BU also have two of the oldest registered .edu domain names on the internet (ufl.edu and bu.edu, respectively), and both were registered on the exact same day.

But as cool as it was to see BU win another National Championship, I feel like that weekend was the official end of my time at BU. Sure, I technically graduated back in May, but I was one of the only people I knew graduating. As far as I’m concerned, that was as much for my family than it was for me. But being in DC and seeing that game with all my friends gave as good a sense of closure as I could ever expect to get from college. I’m ready to move on now.

In the words of Roger Murtaugh, I’m getting too old for this shit.

Well, I finally did it. Against all odds, and in desperate need of a better excuse for not writing on my blog, I got a job. Starting Monday April 13, I’m going to be a reporter for the Norwood Record, located in the town of Norwood, just south of Boston. This has clearly been a long time coming, and, depending on my workload, it may mean that I’ll be spending less time on the blog, and more time getting paid. It’s an okay deal, in my mind.

Aside from the workload, I’m not sure what this actually means for the future of the site. I don’t want to consciously change my content to any extent, but I really don’t want to lose my job because of anything I write on this site. In all likelihood, this will probably be one of, if not the, only times I’m actually going to write about my work, unless something epic happens that absolutely must be related.

But I’m not starting the job until next Monday, so why is it going to be quiet this week? Well, two reasons. I’m flying home tomorrow (Tuesday) morning to get my car, and I’m going to spend all of Wednesday bombing up the east coast to Washington, DC, because this weekend is the NCAA Frozen Four at the Verizon Center. I’ve got my ticket, got a couch to crash on, and I’m hungry for a national championship.

On a related note, the Hobey Baker (College Hockey’s Heisman) finalists were named on Friday. The three finalists include BU’s own Matt Gilroy and Colin Wilson, as well as former-Northeastern (he just jumped ship for the Penguins) goalie Brad Thiessen. I’m a little worried that vote splitting between the two terriers might work in Thiessen’s favor, but Gilroy absolutely deserves this award. Dude’s been the heart and soul of the team, and the fact that we’re in D.C. while Northeastern is back in Roxbury can only help us.

Some form of post-game recap will surely be forthcoming, most likely to be written in an unintelligle string of vowels.

He is, or was, a girl’s soccer coach in Scituate, Massachusetts. He, like so many other champions of greatness in the history of this fine country, lost his job for speaking the truth in a letter to parents before the season. He also renamed their team “Green Death” and compared the play he expected to Michael Vick’s pit bulls. I first heard about his story on Deadspin, who got their details from the Patriot-Ledger (where you can get the full text of his email to parents). I then saw it on PTI this afternoon, and, if my knowledge of how these things work is correct, he will soon be quoted by internet commenters and SportsCenter anchors in equal measure (See: “Boom goes the dynamite”).

And if he gets enough publicity, he’s just about guaranteed to be coaching another youth sports team, or writing a column, for someone who has a sense of humor. I’d expect him to replace Calipari in Memphis, personally.

If I were one of those parents, I’d just be happy that the only Law & Order: SVU character he resembles is Chris Meloni.

photo courtesy USCHO.com

My throat is raw from screaming. I have bruises all over my legs. I probably dropped a few days off my life by drinking my weight in cheap beer. But now that all is said and done, BU is going to the frozen four in Washington, DC.

This weekend was everything I could have wanted it to be. We dumped all over Ohio State, winning the first game 8-3 in a tournament where the other three no. 1 seeds fell in their first games. It was a great game for the result, but when you’re up 6-0 in the second it’s really just not as exciting as you’d expect. The highlight wound up being the BU students chanting for Barry Melrose and John Buccigross, and getting nods on air and from the press box for it.

And then we played UNH. Being the Florida football fan I am, I have to compare Hockey East to SEC football. Everyone hates everyone, and any game between any two teams (except Merrimack) winds up being exciting and terrifying at the same time. Given that we were in UNH territory, we had every reason to be afraid.

We caught some flack in the bar before the game, but we brought the fury when the game started. After a ridiculous back-and-forth 1-1 game highlighted by some disgusting saves by BU goalie Kieran Millan, time was winding down in the third. It was all set to go to overtime when UNH’s star player James Van Riemsdyk went to the box for hooking in the last minute. I immediately start looking for Jason Lawrence, BU’s goal leader thanks largely to his ridiculous ability to put in power play goals in front of the net.

With less than 15 seconds left, Lawrence did his thing (although, to be fair, UNH basically put it in their own net) and we went Apeshit. We sang. We cheered. We ran around like idiots and hung outside the car on the way out of Manchester.

We pulled the same thing back on campus, but because we’re BU, nobody was out to notice. Eventually we wound up at the bar (973 Commonwealth) drinking with every fan who cared. And the Hockey Team. Good Times.

We’ve got Vermont in the semis (remember what I said about Hockey East matchups?) and the winner of Miami (Ohio) and Bemidji State (located in Minnesota, for some reason). We’re still the number one overall seed in a final four that includes two fours and a three. We have a stud goaltender in Keiran Millan, and so far we’ve won every single game that we’ve needed to win.

I want this championship.

I was all set to close up shop for the weekend to enjoy a lot of beer and hockey, when I get an email from my internet friend Eric, linking me to the single greatest thing to ever happen. Vince Offer (nee Vince Shlomi), better known as the shamwow guy, was arrested for allegedly beating a hooker in his South Beach hotel room.

Again, the ShamWow! guy was arrested in Miami for beating a hooker in his hotel room.

I last wrote about Vince and his fight against Scientology back in January. That’s been an oddly popular article for people interested in his case, but nothing beats this for pure comedy production. Seriously, go watch either of his infomericals and try to find a single description of his products that can’t be made funny by adding a joke about beating hookers.

“You know the Germans make good stuff…for beating hookers.”

“We’re going to [beat this hooker] in real time”

“You with me camera guy? Because I’m going to beat this hooker.”

“You’re going to love my nuts…unless you’re a South Beach hooker.”

“You know we can’t do this all day…because I have to go beat a hooker”

The possibilities are endless.

Somewhere, Billy Mays is stroking his beard and laughing maniacally.