It may be the biggest shopping day of the year, but I’m much more excited about the decorations. Driving to work this morning I could already see people stringing lights. I’m sure the unusually warm weather encouraged people to start today.

And while I have every intention of going home tonight and spending hours untangling lights and finding hooks for all of my ornaments, I’ve already started decorating at work.

I’ve decorated my Google Christmas tree, downloaded my snowglobe from Yahoo Widgets, activated my Christmas countdown on Facebook, switched to my falling snow screen saver and put lights around the border of my desktop.

All I need now is a mug of hot chocolate and video of a roaring fireplace to put in the video editor in my office.

-jj

Posted under Holiday

We asked people to tell us what they’re thankful for on KWWL.com – and every response involved friends and family. My list is pretty typical. I’m thankful for my family, my friends, a roof over my head, food to eat, a job that I love…and the Internet.

Yes. The Internet. I wouldn’t say it’s really the technology that makes me thankful, but instead, what it enables me to do. The Internet helps me communicate with our viewers. The Internet keeps me in touch with friends from my past. And thanks to the Internet and to Skype, I was able to talk to my parents on Thanksgiving, even though they are half a world away.

So, yes. You may think it’s ridiculous, but the Internet makes my list of things to be thankful for.

And I’m thankful for a great Thanksgiving meal. Everyone in the newsroom pitched in and we actually had a very impressive meal.

It was almost like a family Thanksgiving, minus the comfortable furniture and the afternoon nap. We took a break to eat and hang out, watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade and It’s a Wonderful Life. Our 5 p.m. producer, Maria, even brought her dog, Fawn, to hang out.

Like I’ve said before, the news never takes a holiday. But that doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate.

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you too have many things to be thankful for.

-jj

Posted under Holiday

The news never takes a holiday – so it’s business as usual tomorrow at KWWL. But, that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy a delicious feast.

Last year on Thanksgiving I was new to town, and when you’re sitting in an empty apartment the night before Thanksgiving, it’s easy to work yourself into a cooking frenzy. By the time I headed to work on Thanksgiving Day, I had cooked an entire meal – minus the turkey.

I’ve decided my baking madness should become a tradition, so last night I sat down to plan my menu. So far, I’m planning a cranberry salsa, pumpkin puffs, spiced pumpkin seeds, apple sausage stuffing, and artichoke dip. And to finish it all off, my mother’s pumpkin roll with cream cheese filling – which I’ve had every year I can remember. I’ll have to post pictures of the feast. I doubt it will last long because news people have BIG appetites.

I’m not the only one looking for recipe inspiration. I got a note from Yahoo this morning about holiday related searches. Some are more interesting than others. Here’s some of my favorites:

The number five Thanksgiving related search is "Thanksgiving 2008 date." Really? What person doesn’t know when Thanksgiving is?

The top name brand recipes people are searching for (in order) are Food Network, Paula Deen, Kraft, Betty Crocker, Rachel Ray, and Martha Stewart.

Searches for "turducken" are up 77% in the last week. What’s a turducken you ask? I had to look this one up.

According to Wikipedia, a turducken is "a dish consisting of a partially de-boned turkey stuffed with a de-boned duck, which itself is stuffed with a small de-boned chicken. The thoracic cavity of the chicken and the rest of the gaps are filled with, at the very least, a highly seasoned breadcrumb mixture or sausage meat, although some versions have a different stuffing for each bird."

On that note, happy cooking everyone. And if you plan to fry your turkey, as our News Director does, please be safe.

-jj

Posted under Food and Drink

It’s been a lifetime since I’ve posted a blog. Not really a good habit for increasing readership, but life has been busy. First the election, then I got a promotion. Now I’m the Internet Director at KWWL, which basically means that it’s my job to keep KWWL.com running as smoothly as possible.

So that meant saying goodbye to reporting, which I will miss. But I still might pop up on your TV every once in a while.

Anyway, settling into the new job has been hectic. There’s always something new to learn, a part of the site to tweak or a story to post. But, today I took a 15 minute break to indulge in a pre-holiday ritual: Black Friday ads.

Yes, it’s that time of year again. We were talking in the newsroom about how there are plenty of holiday shopping commercials, but we feel like there has been less advertising about the biggest shopping day of the year.

Still, it’s a week away, and now is the perfect time to start planning. While there are plenty of sites vying for your attention, my personal favorite is Blackfriday.info.

Not only is the site easy to navigate, but unlike many other sites, they will normally either scan the original ads or link to photos of the product. It also shows what items are doorbusters and what are normal sales.

This site will even keep you organized. You can add items to a printable shopping list so you know exactly what to look for on the big day. And if you don’t see the store you’re looking for, sign up for an e-mail alert when it’s posted.

But, so far I haven’t seen any sales that are worth the early mayhem and risk of personal injury. I’m becoming more of a Cyber Monday person myself. I do about half of my shopping online these days.

If you’re the same way, check out my top ten tips for safe online shopping.

-jj

Posted under Web/Tech